Steel Times International March 2022

UKRAINE CRISIS

INNOVATIONS

INFRASTRUCTURE

PERSPECTIVES Q&A

Three articles on the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

The latest global contracts and new products news for the steel industry.

German steelmaker Dillinger on Stuttgart’s new Neckar Bridge.

Falkonry’s CEO, Nikunj Mehta answers our tricky questions.

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com March 2022 - Vol.46 No2

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – March 2022 – Vol.46 No2

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CONTENTS – MARCH 2022

UKRAINE CRISIS

INNOVATIONS

INFRASTRUCTURE

PERSPECTIVES Q&A

Three articles on the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

The latest global contracts and new products news for the steel industry.

German steelmaker Dillinger on Stuttgart’s new Neckar Bridge.

Falkonry’s CEO, Nikunj Mehta answers our tricky questions.

Since 1866

2 Leader

By Matthew Moggridge.

www.steeltimesint.com March 2022 - Vol.46 No2

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – March 2022 – Vol.46 No2

Front cover: Q-One: efficient energy source for electric arc furnaces through hi-performance power unit. Power system installation at ABS SISAK, Croatia Photo courtesy Andrea Fragiacomo,

4 News round-up The latest global steel news.

Danieli Automation.

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EDITORIAL Editor Matthew Moggridge Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855151 matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com Editorial assistant Catherine Hill Tel:+44 (0) 1737855021 Consultant Editor Dr. Tim Smith PhD, CEng, MIM Production Editor Annie Baker Advertisement Production Martin Lawrence SALES International Sales Manager Paul Rossage paulrossage@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855116 Sales Director Ken Clark kenclark@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855117

11 Innovations New products and contracts.

22 USA update Production costs expected to rise.

27 Latin America update 100 years in Brazil.

31 India update India eyes a larger market share in global steel trade.

35 UK steel market Recovery is hard, survival is harder.

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855164 Chief Executive Officer Steve Diprose SUBSCRIPTION Jack Homewood Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email subscriptions@quartzltd.com Steel Times International is published eight times a year and is available on subscription. Annual subscription: UK £215.00 Other countries: £284.00 2 years subscription: UK £387.00 Other countries: £510.00

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41 Ukraine invasion Bad times ahead.

43 Infrastructure Boom time for US steelmakers.

46 Infrastructure The future of steel bridge engineering.

51 Continuous casting Hitting the spot every time.

58 Perspectives Q&A: Falkonry Al in Steelmaking – CEO Nikung Mehta answers our tricky questions.

60 History The Pioneering Life of Peter Kirk A book review - Part 1 The beginning.

38 Ukraine invasion From riches to rags.

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3 years subscription: UK £431.00 Other countries: £595.00 Single copy (inc postage): £47.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com Published by: Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, England.

Tel: +44 (0)1737 855000 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034 www.steeltimesint.com Steel Times International (USPS No: 020-958) is published monthly except Feb, May, July, Dec by Quartz Business Media Ltd and distributed in the US by DSW, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER send address changes to Steel Times International c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437.

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LEADER

Ukraine: It’s important not to be a neutral voice

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

I have made a conscious decision not to be neutral on the crisis in Ukraine.

Being neutral means not taking sides, which in turn translates to not necessarily disagreeing with what the Russians are doing to innocent Ukrainians. Normally, neutrality is borne out of necessity and, where nation states are concerned, is often connected with trade links, but even then it’s hard to sit on the fence when a sovereign nation has been invaded by an aggressor in an unprovoked attack and is being bombed into the stone age for no reason. How can anybody be neutral about pregnant women and their unborn children being killed in air strikes on hospitals, which are being deliberately targetted by Russian forces? Who would really sit there and not condemn such atrocities? For fear of what? It’s important that I take a stance, albeit from my safe European home, and stand up for what I believe is right; that’s what the Ukrainian people are doing every time they throw a Molotov cocktail at advancing Russian forces, that’s what Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest is doing when it manufactures steel ‘hedgehogs’ – or tank traps – to hinder Putin’s aggressive military.

Putin has lied to the people of Russia and to his own troops about his ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine. His security services at home are stifling anti-war protest with beatings, arrests and jail time in a country that is rapidly falling backwards into the old monochrome, Trabant 601 Soviet era.

The problem is that, in the west, we’re all sitting around watching television, but appear powerless to do anything about the plight of the Ukrainians. Russia has nuclear weapons, Putin thinks he’s untouchable and that makes the ‘nuclear deterrent’ a little redundant. However, the last thing anybody wants is nuclear war.

The most likely outcome is the conflict will drag on, the Ukrainians will fight to the last and there will be massive Russian casualties, which won’t go unnoticed at home. Peace could be brokered by Turkey, Israel or China, sanctions will continue.

Russia might even be forced to withdraw.

Putin has overstepped the mark – now there’s an understatement – and I wonder if there will ever be a way back for him. It looks as if Russia will be a pariah state for the foreseeable future and that, one way or another, ordinary people the world over will pay the price for Putin’s madness.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

BlueScope, a provider of steel products, systems and technologies, has committed to the next phase of its biggest infrastructure project in Australia. The company is preparing to begin work on relining the mothballed number 6 blast furnace at its Port Kembla plant, with design and execution taking place across the next 12 months at a cost of approximately $50 million.

Source: ABC News, 21 February 2022

Brazilian miner Vale SA has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China-based Hunan Valin Group to develop decarbonisation solutions in steelmaking, as it seeks to cut 15% of its scope 3 carbon emissions by 2035. Vale previously signed an MOU with South Korean steelmaker Posco in November 2021, which aimed to help Posco achieve carbon neutrality in its production operations by 2050.

Source: Reuters, 23 February 2022

Primetals Technologies has received the final acceptance certificates (FACs) from NLMK Group in Lipetsk for the construction of off-gas systems at LD converters (BOFs) No. 2 and 3 at steel plant LD2. The project’s targets included reducing emissions at the steel plant to levels lower than European standards, improving the heat-recovery system to supply steam to the existing network, using the converter’s off-gas for further utilization, and increasing productivity.

Source: WebWire, 24 February 2022

Tata Steel has deployed four female employees as stacker-cum-reclaimer (SCR) operators for the first time at its Meramandali plant in Odisha's Dhenkanal district.

The female SCR operators, who have a diploma in mechanical engineering, underwent safety induction and on-the-job training prior to their induction. Tata Steel Meramandali vice president Subodh Pandey said it marked a ‘monumental milestone on gender balance among the workforce in the plant’.

Source: The New Indian Express, 25 February 2022

A steelworks supervisor who works at Tata Steel in Port Talbot, crashed into a bridge at Lon Derw, Ynysawdre, and later admitted to driving with 92mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath (with the legal limit being 25mcg.) The presiding magistrate resultantly imposed a 23-month driving ban and a 12-month community order including 10 rehab activity days.

Source: Wales Online, 25 February 2022

Union Steel Minister RCP Singh has announced that the Indian government is researching the use of plastic waste in steelmaking to create an environment-friendly ‘waste-to-wealth’ model. Singh inaugurated a two-day conference of ministers of mines and industries at Konark in Odisha, according to an official release. The objective of the conference was to provide the mineral-rich states with an opportunity to present and deliberate on matters related to mining leases and environmental clearance of ongoing and new mining projects.

Source: The Week, 25 February 2022

A ‘paradigm shift’ is underway in Australia's Pilbara region for both raw materials and green steelmaking, Chris McMahen, group manager at iron ore giant Fortescue Metals Group, has announced. McMahen, who represents the Minerals Council of Australia at international committees, is positioning the Fortescue businesses to supply raw materials required by a decarbonised iron and steel making industry in order to allow businesses to reach their net zero targets. Source: 7 News, 1 March 2022

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NEWS ROUND-UP

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Madrid’s Nebrija University has partnered with multinational iron and steel company ArcelorMittal and developed a new method for fabricating a tubular steel trellis frame: 3D printing. When the companies’ engineers determined that the 3D-printed tubes were structurally sound, the team integrated the data into the algorithm, allowing the system to automatically create stable geometric shapes. According to ArcelorMittal, 3D printing allows manufacturers to produce frames without having to develop a proprietary blend of metals, driving a lower overall production cost.

Source: Ride Apart, 28 February 2022

Tata Steel in India, along with its utility arm Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services Limited (TSUISL), have installed solar trees in Jamshedpur’s Jubilee Park to pay homage to its founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. According to the company, solar trees were chosen to reflect the company’s focus on a ‘better tomorrow’, while celebrating its founders’ birth anniversary.

Source: The Telegraph India, 1 March 2022

Emirates Steel, a UAE-based steel manufacturer and Mauritania’s Société Nationale Industrielle Et Minière (SNIM) have partnered to research the feasibility of setting up a joint venture to produce iron ore pellets. The feasibility study will be done over an 18-month period, and if the partners decide to collaborate in full-scale iron oxide pellet production, it will mean taking on upstream opportunities too, according to a statement made by Emirates. Source: Gulf News, 1 March 2022.

Russian steelmaker Severstal has confirmed to Russian news agency Interfax that it has stopped all exports to EU countries as its main

Tata Steel Advanced Materials (TSMAL), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, has executed a share purchase cum shareholders' agreement for acquisition of a 90% equity stake in Ceramat (CPL), a bio ceramics firm. According to Tata, the company aspires to use its share of CPL to set up a facility to produce medical materials such as hydroxyapatite – a calcium phosphate-based ceramic used as bone replacement.

Source: Business Standard, 1 March 2022 The Australian Rail Track Corporation has signed a $292 million contract with Liberty Primary Steel to supply heavy-duty rail, supporting 1,500 jobs in the Whyalla, South Australia. The announcement coincides with an announcement by SA Labour that Whyalla is the preferred location for the $593 million Hydrogen Power Station it plans to build if it wins this month’s state election.

Source: In Daily, 2 March 2022

shareholder – 'oligarch' Alexei Mordashov – is included in the list of individuals on whom the EU has imposed sanctions.

According to sources, the company will now turn to its local market while seeking options for sales and payment procedures for exports.

Source: Steel Orbis, 2 March 2022

In a step toward decarbonizing the emissionintensive steelmaking industry, Evraz, a Chicagobased engineered steel producer, is building the world’s largest solar-powered steel plant. According to a company release, a 300-megaWatt solar farm will power its Rocky Mountain Steel mill facility, using more than 750,000 solar panels on 1,800 acres south of Pueblo, Colorado. When finished,

the farm will provide more than 90% of the mill’s power, abating 433,700 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, or the equivalent of 92,100 fuelburning cars.

Source: Construction Dive, 2 March 2022

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Global low carbon energy company Engie has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Posco, a South Korean steel-manufacturer, to explore joint development opportunities for green hydrogen production and related infrastructure in the Middle East, Australia and Latin America.

Under the MoU, Engie will leverage its existing industrial-scale renewable hydrogen value-chain experience to support Posco’s hydrogen production.

Source: Trade Arabia, 2 March 2022 China Merchants Heavy Industry has cut the first steel for Integrated Wind Solutions' (IWS) second construction service operation vessel (CSOV) at the steel company’s facility in Jiangsu, China. The vessel will be named IWS Windwalker, and the steel cutting was conducted 10 days ahead of the initial project plan. IWS Windwalker is the second vessel in the IWS Fleet’s Skywalker class and is designed specifically to support commissioning works during the construction of wind farms.

The hybrid powered vessels will be some of the first in the industry capable of zero emission operations, IWS said.

Source: ReNews, 2 March 2022

The Philippines Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has announced plans to further implement green metals in its industry – such as nickel, cobalt and copper. In a media statement on 2 March, the Trade Undersecretary, Ceferino Rodolfo, said the country is heading towards a greener economy by maximizing the opportunities in the global market for green metals. According to Rodolfo, investment in these metals is part of the Philippines’ goal to be on a par with other countries in the production and processing of such metals.

Source: Business Mirror, 2 March 2022 Abu Dhabi Ports Group has signed an agreement with Metal Park Investment ME to establish an integrated metal hub in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD).

Covering a total land area of 450,000 sq m, the Metal Park will be equipped with facilities supporting storage and handling, processing, and fabrication activities, while also offering access to research and development amenities, office space and associated financial services.

Source: Arabian Business, 6 March 2022

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Tata Steel has announced plans to produce a major portion of its steel from scrapbased production processes in the coming decade. The Indian steelmaker has taken the initiative to go for scrapbased production processing, which is less carbon-intensive compared to the traditional blast furnace or basic oxygen furnace route. According to company experts, with scrap-based processes, the emissions will go down from 2.5 tonnes of carbon per tonne of crude steel to roughly 0.1-0.2 tonnes of carbon per tonne of crude steel.

Source: Financial Express, 6 March 2022

Hamriyah Steel, a global producer of hot-rolled steel bar for the reinforcement of concrete, is the first UAE company to have attained the Rosette-1 rating from the UK Cares Sustainable Construction Steels (SCS) certification scheme.

The rating is awarded to businesses which have shown a clear drive toward sustainability. "The Rosette-1 certification from UK Cares goes on to prove that we are completely aligned with our mission of being a torchbearer in driving transformation in processes and operations that benefit the environment and society,” said Shokrukh Nasirkhodjaev, CEO of Hamriyah Steel.

Source: Gulf News, 7 March 2022

Cleveland-Cliffs, a northAmerican flat-rolled steel manufacturer that bought most of ArcelorMittal's US steel mills in December 2020, has decided it will indefinitely idle Blast Furnace No. 4, the century-old furnace – and the last left on the west side. The company stated that blast furnace No. 7 will be able to produce the extra 2.1 Mt/ yr capacity that No. 4 blast furnace put out.

Source: The Times of Northwest Indiana, 7 March 2022

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Norwegian renewables developer Scatec is teaming up with Indian green technology company ACME Group to design, develop, build, own and operate a green ammonia plant in Oman powered by a 500MW solar farm. The first phase of the facility is expected to produce 100kt/yr of green ammonia.

The plant will be located in the Duqm Special Economic Zone of Oman, and once the facility is fully developed it is expected to produce up to 1.2 Mt/yr of green ammonia.

Source: ReNews, 7 March 2022

Vladimir Lisin, a Russian billionaire, told employees at steelmaker NLMK that lost lives in Ukraine were a tragedy that was hard to justify, and called for a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

Lisin, NLMK's chairman and main shareholder, said in a letter to staff that was posted on social networks by an employee that the company and its board of directors hoped that the conflict was resolved soon.

Source: Reuters, 7 March 2022

M&J Europe, the engineering solutions provider, is expanding its Tredegar base in Wales, UK, as the engineering firm looks to move into new markets and create jobs. Supported by Tata Steel subsidiary UKSE, M&J is adding a new factory unit, offices and workshops to its headquarters in Tafarnaubach in a major seven-figure investment. An eco-friendly biomass boiler will provide heating for the new complex, and a new water jet cutter and CNC milling equipment will increase the scope of services on offer.

Source: Wales 247, 7 March 2022

ITM Power, a leader in green hydrogen technology, has announced a deal with Norwegian chemicals giant Yara for a 24MW electrolyser that will help it reduce reliance on grey hydrogen in ammonia production.

This increase in scale from their 10MW electrolyser is predicted to deliver a 40% reduction in the cost of electrolysers over the next two years, further strengthening the case for hydrogen.

Source: The Engineer, 7 March 2022

The Solihull branch of ArcelorMittal, an integrated steel and mining company, has agreed a deal to relocate to Friars Gate, located on the outskirts of Birmingham, UK. ArcelorMittal's 50-strong team is moving to a 7,060 sq ft space on a tenyear lease, just a mile away from its 9,000 sq ft office at Fore Business Park. The relocation to Friars Gate, which is owned

by Topland Group, is designed to enable more occupational efficiency. Source: Insider Media, 8 March 2022 Eight fake examinees were arrested for appearing on behalf of candidates in Tata Steel’s registered dependent reinstatement examination by the Bistupur police station and consequently remanded to judicial custody. According to one of the accused, 7,000 rupees were offered to the men to appear at the exam.

Source: The Avenue Mail, 7 March 2022

2000 jobs at Hartlepool’s UK based Liberty Steel pipe mill have been saved after petitions

by HMRC to wind up companies owned by its parent company were withdrawn. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said the news will be a ‘huge relief’ to the Hartlepool plant’s dedicated workers and their families.

Source: Hartlepool Mail, 8 March 2022

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Steelwork contractors have been hit with the highest ever price hike from British Steel of £250 per tonne on steel sections. Notices of the rise were issued on 10 March by British Steel, which blamed the war between Russia and Ukraine – stating that the ongoing crisis was creating an extraordinary level of volatility in commodity and energy prices, as well as a significant disruption to international trade flows.

Source: Construction Enquirer, 11 March 2022

Shares in Evraz, the Londonlisted steel company in which Roman Abramovich is the largest shareholder, have been suspended after the UK hit the Russian oligarch with sanctions. The Financial Conduct Authority said it was suspending trading in the shares ‘in order to protect investors pending clarification of the impact of the UK sanctions’. Shares in Evraz fell as much as 14% before the suspension. Source: The Financial Times, 10 March 2022

ArcelorMittal, Liberty Steel and other steelmakers are cutting back operations in Europe as power prices surge to record levels in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with many factories closing, or working during off-peak hours to offset cost. The day-ahead average power price in Spain jumped to almost $599 per megaWatt-hour, more than twice what it was in February.

Source: Luxembourg Times, 10 March 2022

More than 200 staff members at UK-based Liberty Pressing Solutions are facing uncertainty after efforts to sell the plant failed. The plant previously listed Honda, Nissan, BMW, JCB and tractor-maker New Holland among its customers. Parent company Gupta Family Group Alliance, which was badly hit by the collapse of lender Greensill Capital, had announced it was launching a consultation over the Coventry site. Now, a 45-day consultation has begun after tycoon Sanjeev Gupta abandoned an attempt to sell the factory.

Source: Birmingham Mail, 10 March 2022 Four bids are competing for a £1.5 billion deal for Fleet Solid Support vessels that will restock UK Royal Navy aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates. The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions has written to companies involved in the four bid teams, setting a series of tests. It wants them to state in their applications how much work will take place in the UK, at which shipyards and how their bid will help maintain the UK’s sovereign capability for shipbuilding.

Source: The Mirror, 10 March 2022 EDF is planning to develop a 30-50MW electrolyzer in Teesside, UK, to produce renewable hydrogen for decarbonizing steel production in the region, the company said in a statement on 9 March. The planned Tees Green Hydrogen plant, to be situated near the former Redcar steelworks, will be powered by the nearby Teesside Offshore Wind Farm, together with a new solar farm that EDF Renewables plans to construct close by. The hydrogen production capacity could be scaled to over 500 MW as further demand emerges, EDF said.

Source: Euro Metal, 11 March 2022

A criminal case against ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) – Ukraine’s major steelmaker, which focuses on long steel production – was closed on 7 March, according to an announcement by national Prosecutor General Iryna Venedictova, reported by local media. Following the investigation, the company paid UAH 2.2 billion in taxes to the budget of Ukraine, ending the criminal proceedings.

Source: Metal Bulletin, 10 March 2022

Steelworkers eligible to claim compensation following the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) scandal are being warned it is their last chance to act before time runs out.

Lawyers working for victims say that their clients have lost significant amounts from their pensions if they transferred out before April 2017 when transfer values approximately doubled – anyone who has not yet looked into compensation is being encouraged to act fast.

Source: The Northern Echo, 11 March 2022 www.steeltimesint.com

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Tata Steel has been selected as a member of worldsteel’s New Sustainability Charter for its initiatives and commitment towards sustainable development and the circular economy. The World Steel Association (worldsteel) released its revised and expanded Sustainability Charter on 3 March 2022. T V Narendran, CE0 and managing director at Tata Steel, said: “Tata Steel is delighted to be a member of worldsteel’s new Sustainability Charter.

It reaffirms our commitment towards achieving industry leadership in sustainability.’’

Source: Orissa Diary, 11 March 2022

Sheffield Forgemasters is reported to have been ordered to scrap a contract with a Russian energy firm.

The Brightside-based firm, which was taken over by the UK Government last year, has been told to end a contract with the gas business Gazprom, with the Government exploring options to end British reliance on the country’s gas.

Source: The Star, 13 March 2022

Liberty Steel Ostrava is implementing a €125/t ($137/t) surcharge on flatrolled products due to rising energy and raw material costs, with the surcharge taking immediate effect and including material in production or pending shipment. It will not apply to new contracts at higher prices and is only for old orders, according to a source close to the company. Liberty said the surcharge was ‘requested for ongoing stable operations’ and ‘continuity of our supplies’.

Source: Argus Media, 11 March 2022

The Allegheny County Health Department has levied a civil penalty of more than $1.84 million against US Steel Corp. citing air pollution from the Clairton Coke Works, the latest step in what could become another legal battle between the two entities. The fine covered 153 ‘hydrogen sulphide (H2S) exceedances’ between 1 Jan 2020 and 1 March 2022. Hydrogen sulphide, which frequently produces a rotten egg or sulphur-smelling odour, was recorded at the county’s Liberty monitor, located about two miles from the nation’s largest coke plant.

Source: Public Source, 11 March 2022

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A Spanish hair salon has incorporated galvanised steel elements throughout its studio located in Madrid.

Local designer Casa Antillón was tasked with finding a simple yet effective way to make the space more visually impactful, and responded by completely covering the facade of the salon and large swathes of its interior with sheets of galvanised steel.

Source: Dezeen, 13 March 2022

At least four restaurants have plans on opening on Georgetown's (South Carolina, USA) busy waterfront in the shadow of a steel mill that could close and allow for development in order to bring more diners and shoppers to the city’s historic business centre. The new restaurants along Front Street will join a boutique hotel and several businesses expected to be announced soon.

The mill, once one of the city’s largest employers, has struggled in recent years and reopened in January with 65 workers after closing during the COVID pandemic.

Source: Georgetown Times, 13 March 2022 Tata Steel and DB Cargo UK have successfully trialled the use of 100% renewable hydro-treated vegetable oil in a Class 60 locomotive transporting product from Wales to the West Midlands. The carbon-busting locomotive carrying some 2,500 tonnes of steel coil was the first Class 60 powered purely by the environmentally friendly fuel to travel on the mainline UK rail network. The train ran from Tata Steel’s steel works in Margam, Port Talbot, to its terminal in Round Oak in Brierley Hill in the West Midlands.

Source: DB Cargo, 14 March 2022 March 2022

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21/03/2022 14:16:34

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INNOVATIONS

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ArcelorMittal and AIC develop robotic technology ArcelorMittal, a leader in steel and mining production, and AIC, a global system integrator, will partner to develop an automation robotic tagging station for the rolling mill finishing end area at the Villa Constitución site in Argentina.

Including an anthropomorphic 6-axis floor-mounted COMAU robot and equipped with different tools, each designed for a specific task, the tagging station aims to enhance productivity, efficiency and manufacturing flexibility throughout the entire process.

Leveraging AIC’s experience in robotics technologies, the company claims that the artificial vision package will identify the most suitable co-ordinates (nearby the centre of the profile) for labelling and welding on the bundle tail.

According to AIC, a safer operating area will be insured by the safety logic with smart electric locks linked to the automation system. Their goal in adopting this solution was to reduce risk factors in the factory, as the company claims robots can handle dangerous manufacturing applica-

tions to keep workers safer, ensuring a short cycle time in a compact footprint.

The tagging station will be the first AIC robotic application for the South American market, with the first stages of construction expected for summer 2022.

For further information, log on to www.aicnet.it

IMS awarded ‘Best Supplier 2021’ by MMK Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), a leading steel manufacturer, honoured its partner IMS Messsysteme GmbH (a measuring system

manufacturer) with the award of ‘The Best Supplier 2021’ in the category ‘The Leader of Unique Digital Solutions for Production’ at its ‘Best Sup-

plier 2021 contest’. The honorary diploma and commemorative sculpture were presented to the company, symbolising the partnership between the two businesses. MMK currently co-operates with a total of more than 2,250 active suppliers, from which the respective winners were selected and honoured in 13 categories in the course of the competition.

According to MMK, the partnership between IMS Messsysteme GmbH and MMK has enabled the installation of state-of-the-art measuring systems in the steelmaker’s production facilities in recent years. MMK claims the measuring systems of the world market leader form an integral part of production operations at all the important production stages.

Fast and reliable determination of all relevant parameters of material in the ongoing production process contribute significantly to the high quality of the end products and the worldwide success of the MMK. IMS Messsysteme GmbH stated it was proud of the award it has received and the associated confidence in its systems, which once again underpin the position of the Heiligenhaus-based company on the market for measuring systems for metallurgical processes.

For further information, log on to www.ims-gmbh.de

www.steeltimesint.com

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INNOVATIONS

KOCKS supplies RSB® for rolling mill project Chinese steel producer Chengde Jianlong Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. has placed an order with Friedrich KOCKS GmbH & Co KG, Hilden, Germany, for a Reducing & Sizing Block (RSB® ) 500++/4 in star drive design for its straight bar mill.

Chengde Jianlong is part of the Jianlong group, which encompasses industries such as resources, steel, marine and electromechanical technologies. Following an order for an RSB® 370++/4 in 2017, the company will commission its second KOCKS block.

The new 1.000,000 t/a rolling mill will be located in Chengde, China. The KOCKS 3-roll RSB® is claimed to be a key piece of equipment included in the new rolling mill complex, and will be utilised as a finishing unit after the roughing and intermediate train and will produce straight bars within a dimension of Ø 60.0 – 160.0 mm.

Included in the KOCKS scope of supply is the Remote control (RC) as well as the bar mill configurator Bamicon Octopus which allows the RSB® to roll the individual products. The installation of the new RSB® is scheduled for the beginning of 2023.

For further information, log on to www.kocks.de

Konecranes releases digital solution Konecranes, supplier of lifting equipment and services, has released its latest digital solution which allows lift trucks customers to monitor the status and usage of their assets. According to the company, the solution can reduce equipment downtime and schedule operations activities with just a few mouse clicks, by using the KONECRANES customer portal.

Today, the majority of Konecranes customers are operating with smart connected equipment, and Konecranes claims that with TRUCONNECT Remote Monitoring as the telematic solution on their lift trucks, and yourKONECRANES.com as a digital experience platform, lift trucks customers can monitor the condition and use of their assets to get valuable insights to turn into immediate action, increasing both productivity and operational efficiency.

The yourKONECRANES asset maintenance planner aims to guide customers to the correct maintenance actions, as well as provide support for planning and carrying out actions in a timely and effective way. The company states that customers benefit from the list of parts needed for their maintenance activities and a time estimation for each checkpoint, optimizing the usage of time and resources efficiently.

“Our digital solutions have been very popular with our customers and these new services will March 2022

innovations 2.indd – read MM..indd 2

engage them even more,” said Bertrand Marion, director of business development and digitalization at Konecranes Lift Trucks. “Having a full view of the fleet performance with KPIs and reports is a big advantage for customers. They will gain important insights on how to systematically improve their operations and overall equipment effectiveness.”

The new system follows the ‘security by design’ concept, where specific software development practices are designed to ensure that high security risks are identified and eliminated in each phase of the software development lifecycle, and

never reach the production phase.

“At Konecranes, we understand our customers’ enthusiasm for innovation, especially digital solutions that lead to clear results,” commented Andreas Falk, senior vice president of Konecranes Lift Trucks. “Forecasting and comparison in a secure online environment are both valuable tools that help businesses build and maintain their future success.”

For further information, log on to www.konecranes.com

www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:26:27

Take the right machine health decisions Traditional monitoring of machine health is reactive. If it gets too hot, you’ll get a warning. If it vibrates too much, you’ll receive an alert. But what happens before failure? To help you take informed decisions ahead of breakdown, SKF Enlight automated machine monitoring systems combine cloud based IoT solutions and analytics with over 100 years of mechanical engineering knowledge.

Visit skf.com/enlight-collect-imx-1 to find out more.

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group. | © SKF Group 2022

14

INNOVATIONS

Collett Acquire Plant Speed Wind Energy Fleet Halifax based Collett & Sons Ltd and Bristol’s Plant Speed have agreed a deal which will see their specialist wind turbine equipment join the Collett fleet. Taking the decision to remove themselves from the wind energy industry and focus more on their haulage operations, Plant Speed’s entire fleet of super wing carriers, extendable trailers and lift adapters have been acquired by Collett.

With multiple wind energy projects scheduled throughout 2022, Collett took the opportunity to expand its wind turbine fleet, adding Nooteboom super wing carriers, quadruple extendable blade trailers and lift adapters, alongside several specialist adapters including gyrostat tables, loading

Maxcess opens rotary die manufacturing facility Maxcess, a global leader in products and services for web handling applications, has announced the opening of its new RotoMetrics, a Maxcess brand, rotary die-cutting factory in China. The new plant will manufacture and refurbish magnetic cylinders for flexible die applications and solid rotary die tooling. Maxcess claims that the new facility will provide customers in China and the Asia Pacific region with better products and convenient localized services.

“This is exciting news for Maxcess,” said Nang Young, vice president of Maxcess. “After more March 2022

innovations 2.indd – read MM..indd 3

than a year of preparation and development, we are very pleased to see magnetic cylinders being produced in Huzhou. Solid rotary dies are also under testing, with full-time production anticipated during the second half of 2022. The pandemic brought great challenges, but with hard work, we overcame difficulties and made the production line run as scheduled. We sincerely look forward to working with customers and partners to produce these products locally so our customers can work better, faster and smarter. “ With approximately 5000+ square metres of

manufacturing space, the new facility will provide products and services for customers in packaging, labeling, rotary processing and other industries.

“Localized production is a win-win strategy,” said Daisy Dai, operations director of APAC. “For customers, compared with imported products, the products produced in our Huzhou factory not only have significant value advantages, but also provide faster delivery times. In addition, we can provide customers with services such as refurbishment and maintenance for magnetic cylinders, as well as blade sharpening for solid rotary dies, www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:26:48

INNOVATIONS

beds and tower hooks.

As an established operator in the wind energy industry, Collet hopes that the addition of this new equipment will increase their carrying capacity as well as add to their fleet, providing a definitive range of specialist equipment with which to undertake wind farm development projects.

“This strategic decision for Plant Speed is one which sees our company focus shift from wind turbine delivery projects,’’ commented Paul Lomas, managing director of Plant Speed.

“Having worked closely with Collett in the past, the decision to amalgamate our fleet in to theirs was an easy one to make, and whilst we may not be operating in the wind turbine in-

dustry going forwards, this is a move which will allow Plant Speed to focus on other specialist haulage operations.”

Speaking about the expansion of the Collett fleet, managing director, David Collett added, “with several projects scheduled, and currently underway, this move sees Collett strengthen our market position. Having worked in the renewable energy industry for many years, the acquisition of this new trailer equipment is a decisive move for Collett, and one which significantly increases our wind turbine carrying capabilities.”

For further information, log on to www.collett.co.uk

15

EAF revamp at BSW successfully completed European steel supplier and steel mill owner Badische Stahlwerke, has successfully completed its revamp of EAF #1, as it started up successfully in late January. The developments to the furnace were finalized within 51 days, and within the first 24 hours of production, 29 heats were successfully tapped.

Alterations to the upgraded 109t EAF included new foundations along with a re-designed slag pit, an increase in the size of the pit, a new spray cooling system and tilt platform with rockers, upgrades to the existing hydraulic system, and the upper shell being equipped with a Smart Leakage Detection (SLD) system that identifies any water escape above 25 l/min.

The company claims that this project has been a great success, and proves that the Badische team is highly skilled in designing and revamping an EAF. For further information, log on to www.bsw-kehl.de

which will offer convenient maintenance for local customers.”

The Huzhou factory is an important facility in Maxcess’ global manufacturing footprint. To ensure a consistent production process and high manufacturing standards, the main production elements for the Huzhou factory were imported from the United States. In addition, Maxcess claims the processes and operating systems, quality management systems, supply chain systems and warehouse systems are consistent with their global standards to guarantee product quality.

For further information, log on to www.maxcess.co.uk www.steeltimesint.com

innovations 2.indd – read MM..indd 4

March 2022

22/03/2022 07:26:56

16

INNOVATIONS

SAMSON supplies STORMAJOR® for coal handling

SAMSON Materials Handling (AUMUND Group) has supplied a STORMAJOR® 2.0 to a Japanese company for the handling of coal at their chemical plant in Indonesia. The site, located in Banten province, is a specialist manufacturing facility producing various chemicals for the global supply chain. Coal is delivered by a sea-going vessel, then it is offloaded and stored in the facility directly. During storage, the coal can spontaneously combust due to its quality. The STORMAJOR® designed and delivered by SAMSON manages the continuous in- and out-loading of the coal, whereby the coal is cooling down and hot spots will be avoided.

After detailed review by SAMSON product specialists, a track mounted, self-powered, 450 series STORMAJOR® with a 27m boom was selected. The STORMAJOR® could be positioned with the reception feeder inside the facility and the boom outside allowing the excavator to load the material transported outside directly onto the coal pile.

Keeping the STORMAJOR® in place and turning the machine around it could subsequently feed cooled coal back inside onto the covered stockpile. According to SAMSON, the versatility of the machine allows the company to reduce the number of truck movements and the number of personnel needed in the coal facility thus reducing operating costs, increasing material yield and improving operator safety.

The STORMAJOR® is the Samson® Material Feeder combined with an outloading boom conveyor, which can slew and luff. The feeder and boom are combined into a single mobile machine, and mobility is achieved via self-powered tracks for uneven terrain or wheeled units designed to be towed. Three different types are available on the feeder section to enable the handling of light to heavy bulk material.

The modular outloading boom can be up to 27m long and achieves stockpile heights of over 11m.

Dust control can be achieved by fully enclosing the material feeder and belt conveyors then employing integral filter units mounted on the feeder and boom. In addition, for certain applications a telescopic discharge chute can also be fitted to the boom to allow dust-free loading.

The feeder is able to accept material delivered by numerous methods such as a front end loader, tipping truck, mining dump truck, and an excavator. This, claims SAMSON makes the STORMAJOR® a versatile machine with various applications including stockpiling, barge or ship loading, rail wagon loading, transfer or emergency material feeding.

For further information, log on to www.aumund.com

March 2022

innovations 2.indd – read MM..indd 5

www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:27:12

DANIELI INTELLIGENT PLANT A NEW CONCEPT FOR PLANT AND PROCESS SUPERVISION Data-driven approach, AI and machine learning for continuous improvement of plant performances, simplifying metals complexity Via Bonaldo Stringher, 4 33042 Buttrio (UD) Italy Phone +39 0432 518 111 www.digi-met.com www.dca.it

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18

INNOVATIONS

Modulift appoints LGH as stock holding partner Modulift, manufacturer of modular spreader beams, has announced that it has appointed Lifting Gear Hire (LGH), one of the largest rental hire companies in the lifting industry to become a stock holding partner in Germany.

As the European market grows, demand for Modulift’s range of modular DNV type approved spreader beams readily available off-the-shelf has risen. LGH will now hold stock of Modulift’s product for resale. According to Modulift, customers can expect next-day delivery or same-day collection with LGH’s sales team on hand to provide local support and offer technical knowledge when required.

Edwin Boelens, European sales manager for LGH said, “Modulift is one of the most important suppliers to LGH for our European rental fleet of lifting equipment, and the fact that from today we will also be their stock holding partner in Germany, is a great step for both parties. We can now offer our customers a choice of solutions for modular spreader beams with access to our stock in Germany. This improved service level will also be supported by our team of technical specialists and we are very excited to be taking this step together with Modulift.”

John Baker, commercial director for Modulift said, “With a relationship spanning almost 20 years as global rental partners, LGH are perfectly equipped as Modulift product experts to develop sales as a stock holding partner in Germany.”

For further information, log on to www.modulift.com

March 2022

innovations 2.indd – read MM..indd 6

Matmatch releases supplier search tool

Materials platform Matmatch has released a new tool that claims to help procurement professionals and engineers streamline their material sourcing process. The tool, according to Matmatch, offers the chance to find suppliers of specific metal grades by material name, the desired shape (or form) of the material, and location. Matmatch created the tool to make it easier for its users to find different suppliers and also partly in light of the high-profile supply chain strains faced by the industry since 2020.

Matmatch’s website allows visitors to request a quote from material suppliers and see more information about the different materials and additional services each supplier offers. With an ever-increasing number of people looking for new suppliers to work with, the tool aims to make finding suppliers quicker.

Customers will be able to request a quote, as well as search with a map view of different suppliers, allowing them to find all the relevant suppliers in a specific area.

The new supplier-focused search tool adds to the existing material search tool that Matmatch offers, where users can find materials based on technical properties that are relevant to their application.

“We want to help our users at every stage

of the process: from researching and selecting materials to finally buying them,” said Derk Steemers, head of marketing and growth at Matmatch. “With this new feature, procurement professionals can quickly get an overview of potential suppliers and request a quote for the material they need directly through Matmatch.”

“By adding this new feature, we manage to streamline the entire process for all parties involved: engineers can access all the material data easily, the procurement department gets an overview of suppliers that offer that exact material, and the suppliers receive highly-qualified leads that know exactly what they want,” Steemers added.

The enhanced search function is part of a series of changes Matmatch is rolling out across its platform, with hopes to enrich the user experience for visitors and suppliers alike. The company previously updated its website with the addition of Matmatch Resources, which is a curation of blogs, research articles and case studies by industry professionals. Matmatch also has plans to roll out additional updates to supplier listings in the coming months.

For further information, log on to www.matmatch.com www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:27:22

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31/05/2021 11:19:10

INNOVATIONS

21

Sarclad launches Rolltex EDT technology Sarclad, a leading provider of roll texturing technology, is launching the next generation of EDT technology in April this year, featuring a Multi-Servo Array (MSA) texture head. According to the company, Rolltex EDT-MSA will be targeted at applications that require the highest possible texture quality and consistency. Electrical Discharge Texturing (EDT) is an established technology for producing textured strip, and is claimed to produce a stochastic, isotropic surface texture on cold mill work rolls to high specific tolerances.

These rolls then create a textured surface on the strip that holds lubricant to aid forming during stamping procedures.

According to the company, Sarclad Rolltex EDT-MSA machines will provide market leading textures for work rolls to the full range of surface texture specifications, for all tandem, temper and skin-pass mills. Each electrode is able to be individually controlled both mechanically and electronically, aiming to ensure optimal working performance, while still benefitting from the full and complete texture that the arrayed electrode design delivers. This combination, claims Sarclad, provides the highest texturing consistency possible, combined with the highest possible sparking efficiency, to deliver excellent texturing speeds and quality. The control system employs a closedloop power delivery design, which is designed to ensure that the energy delivered by each spark is precisely controlled, ensuring greater consistency of the surface texture. The texturing process is monitored in real-time by an advanced digital control system, which aims to provide the highest levels of process control, while simultaneously communicating feedback to the control system and machine operator.

Each texture head can be equipped with a range of custom options from 12 to 36 electrodes per station, with a double station machine providing a maximum capacity of 72 electrodes, for those seeking a roll texturing capacity in

excess of 10,000 rolls per annum.

Sarclad also claims to have consciously targeted improvement in the areas of greatest benefit to the market: 1. Higher Peak count performance. Rolltex EDT-MSA offers a 30-60% increase in peak count across the roughness range versus standard market EDT performance.

2. Improved speed and capacity Rolltex EDTMSA offers a reduction in texturing time of at least 30% compared to standard 72-electrode Rolltex EDT. This increase in capacity means that one Rolltex EDT-MSA could satisfy demand where two machines might otherwise be required.

3. Removal of defects including scratches and water marks Defects introduced by the grinding process can be removed more readily by Rolltex EDT-MSA, due to greater texturing efficiency. For example, severe defects such as the deep scratch can be removed, even at low roughness (1.2Ra in this example): In addition to increased texturing performance,

Sarclad claims that Rolltex EDT-MSA is also built to deliver improved texture consistency and operational resilience. “Each electrode contributes equally to delivering the full texture across the roll barrel surface area; any difference in performance affects the full roll surface equally,” explained Chris Childs, head of research and devlopment at Sarclad. “In contrast, alternative EDT machines often have no contingency in the event of failure or imbalance of individual electrode channels, resulting in visible inconsistency appearing in the roll texture.’’

With industry-leading performance, Sarclad is positioning its latest technological developments to those wishing to produce strip with the highest possible surface texture quality. Launching in April 2022, Rolltex EDT-MSA will add to Sarclad’s existing Rolltex product range, meeting demand across the global roll texturing market.

For further information, log on to www.sarclad.com

Sarclad Rolltex EDT-MSA

Tenova contracted to supply STC® Furnace Tenova, leading developer and provider of sustainable solutions for the green transition of the metals industry, has been contracted through its subsidiary Tenova Inc. for the turnkey supply of a roller-hearth type STC® (Short Time Cycle) furnace at Grand Blanc Processing’s wire processing facility located in Holly, Michigan (US).

This project will mark the third STC® furnace installation for the facility and the new furnace will be integrated with the existing furnaces in operation. Furnace start-up is expected to take place at the end of 2022. The 26 metric ton batch STC® furnace will be used to spherodize

anneal and stress relieve Grand Blanc Processing’s wire products.

The new furnace will include Daido Steel’s (Japan) advanced nitrogen control technology. The nitrogen control system aims to reduce nitrogen consumption by up to 30% per cycle and reduce fuel consumption by 2% per cycle. Tenova Inc. will also design and supply three product cooling tables as well as the complete control and automation package.

For further information, log on to www.tenova.com

www.steeltimesint.com

innovations 2.indd – read MM..indd 8

22/03/2022 07:27:44

22

USA UPDATE

Production costs expected to rise As the Russian-Ukraine conflict continues and the West further tightens its sanctions against Russia, the steel industry in the United States and also in the rest of the world faces uncertainties amid ominous signs of material shortages and sharp increases in production costs. By Manik Mehta* BY the first week of March, the US steel industry’s mood had turned from near bullishness – at the end of 2021 – to near dejection, with many steelmakers taking measures to safeguard their business interests.

ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, with primary steelmaking facilities in 17 countries, announced that it was idling its steelmaking operations in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, in order to ensure “the safety and security of our people and assets.” The Kryvyi Rih mill in Southern Ukraine, had already cut down its operations to a third of its capacity since the invasion started.

An ArcelorMittal statement sent to this correspondent said that the company “had been evaluating the situation on a daily basis, and production had previously been reduced with the plant operating at a technical minimum (approximately onethird of its normal production levels)”.

Meanwhile, many countries, including the US, have stopped Russian supplies of steel and steel-based products and components.

Severstal, a leading Russian steelmaker, has stopped its steel shipments to the European Union following the latter’s sanctions.

Speculation on war damage Even before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the Ukraine invasion, US steel experts were speculating over the extent of the damage the war would cause to the US steel industry. For one, US steel producers depend on Russian and Ukrainian supplies of pig iron and steel slabs used for producing crude steel at electric arc furnace (EAF)-operated steel companies and for re-rollers to make flat-rolled products. US analysts fear that the war coupled with the sanctions against Russia could create supply shortages among US steelmakers who rely on Russian raw-material supplies.

Both Russia and Ukraine have been

supplying pig iron to the US for years, accounting for over 60% of the imports coming in since 2018, even though the US also sources from other key suppliers in Eastern Europe. The Ukraine crisis is forcing US buyers to turn to other global pig iron suppliers like Brazil, which accounts for a share of 20% of US pig-iron imports.

Brazilian pig iron, higher in phosphorous content, is generally not the first choice of steelmakers. However, by November 2021, US pig-iron imports from Brazil had surpassed Ukraine. South Africa has exported 23% of its pig iron volumes to the US since 2018, or 469kt. India, meanwhile, exported a record 190kt to the US in 2021, after typically sending minimal volumes to the US. Canadian steelmaker Stelco, which operates a pig-iron caster at its Hamilton, Ontario, plant is another supplier.

Russian steelmaker NLMK is a major slab supplier for the US market, with its products shipped directly to its US subsidiary

* US correspondent, New York March 2022

USA – read MM....indd 1

www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:35:19

USA UPDATE

company, which operates a slab re-rolling mill in Pennsylvania and an EAF-based mill in Indiana.

In 2018, Russia had supplied significant volumes of slabs to the US market. At that time, US steel prices rose sharply, with former President Donald Trump imposing 25% steel tariffs under Section 232.

The US imported 1.21Mt (net tons) of semi-finished steel from Russia in 2021 or 23% of total volumes, according to US Commerce Department data. With sanctions imposed on Russia, US importers will likely be forced to find alternative sources.

Russian exports Russia exported just under 15Mt (net tons) of semi-finished steel in 2021, according to Russian Federal Customs Service data.

Russia’s steel production touched 76Mt – roughly 4% of global levels – in 2021, according to the World Steel Association.

Main Russian steelmakers are Severstal, NLMK, Eyraz, MMK and Mechel, which export half of their production. Some of these companies have steel assets in the US. There are indications that Russia’s industrial-metal exports will witness a sharp decline as commodity buyers and financiers appear to be pulling back from heavy involvement in purchases of Russian metals.

With Russia among the top five global producers of steel, nickel and aluminium, reduced metal shipments will impact the US market which is already facing supply shortages. While metals have not been directly targeted by sanctions, prices are surging on concern that the latest measures could affect payments to suppliers and spur banks to rein in financing for purchases of Russian goods.

Goldman Sachs Group analysts maintained in a note that Russia’s metal shipments were declining and buyers were ‘hesitant in the context of sanction uncertainty and escalation’. “With materially reduced export volume out of Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, all the base-metal markets will face accelerated tightening in the near-term,” they observed.

As in the case of Russia, steel is also of considerable significance for the Ukrainian economy.

One in every four dollars comes to Ukraine through the steel industry. In the world’s major economies, the steel industry is a tool for ensuring national security and a source of employment and income for most www.steeltimesint.com

USA – read MM....indd 2

people.

According to statistics, the steel industry accounts for only 2.3% of Ukrainian GDP. However, the share of the steel industry, including related sectors in the economy amounts to 11.8%.

Thus, any difficulties or problems faced by the steel industry will also impact the Ukrainian economy. The present disruptions and destructive results of the Russian invasion will affect the steel industry and, in effect, its economy.

The steel industry’s contribution to Ukraine’s economy is significant; the industry accounts for around 28% of total currency inflow into Ukraine.

While Russia faces restrictions on its steel exports and the ongoing crisis is expected to raise costs, its competitors in other countries see opportunities to increase their share of the export markets. Indian steel companies, for example, see opportunities in markets where Russian steel companies face sanctions and restrictions.

India’s steel producers are closely eyeing the US, European and Middle Eastern markets to increase their exports as Russia’s steel exports to these markets decline.

They see greater opportunities in the US where importers are expected to look for alternative supply sources, according to the rating agency Icra.

VR Sharma, managing director, Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) said in recent media comments that the Ukraine crisis could create a shortfall of some 3.5Mt of steel in the international market on a monthly

23

basis. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices had already risen by over $150 a tonne or 15% in the international markets in the last 10 days since war broke out, triggering a price increase among Indian steel producers.

Prices Prices have already increased and are expected to increase further as the crisis in Ukraine deepens. Sharma has maintained that the conflict resulted in higher production costs forcing them to raise prices. “Input costs have gone up and these are to be passed on, maybe in 2-3 tranches,” he explained.

Meanwhile, a number of US corporations in various fields have suspended business ties with Russia; some engaged in the steel and steel-related industries have criticized the human catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

Richard Chriss, president and international trade counsel at the American Metals Supply Chain Institute (AMSCI), issued a statement that ‘all the members of the metals’ supply chain … stand firm in our commitment to support the laws and regulations of the United States, and as appropriate, those of other countries’. “ … it is important to remember that it is the beleaguered people of Ukraine who are bearing the real burdens of brutal, unprovoked aggression. For them, there is neither justice nor peace. We look forward to the day when peace is restored, and justice abides,” Chriss said in his statement. �

March 2022

22/03/2022 07:35:23

“IT’S AN EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY TO ASSESS THE EVOLUTION OF THE STEEL INDUSTRY” Diego Diaz Fidalgo, ArcelorMittal

FULL 2022 PROGRAMME NOW ONLINE!

“THIS EVENT IS THE ONLY MEETING FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 FOCUSSED ON THE STEEL INDUSTRY IN EUROPE” Kiyoshi Ebihara, Nippon Steel Corporation

SIGN UP NOW - EARLY BIRD TICKETS ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL 15TH APRIL

HOW DIGITALIZATION CAN AID DECARBONIZATION – Discussion Panels Day 1 and Day 2 SPEAKERS INCLUDE…

Mark Bula Chief commercial officer, H2GreenSteel

Robert Vandlik Head of digital studio, US Steel Kosice, Slovakia

Carlos Alba Chief digital officer, ArcelorMittal

Paramjit Kahlon Liberty Steel Group Primary Steel & Mining

Professor Katja Windt CDO, SMS group GmbH

Roman Stiftner Managing director Austrian Non-Ferrous Metals Federation and the Austrian Mining & Steel Association

To view the full programme visit www.FutureSteelForum.com EXHIBITORS AND SPONSORS INCLUDE…

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22/03/2022 12:26

“IT’S AN EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY TO ASSESS THE EVOLUTION OF THE STEEL INDUSTRY” Diego Diaz Fidalgo, ArcelorMittal

FULL 2022 PROGRAMME NOW ONLINE!

“THIS EVENT IS THE ONLY MEETING FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 FOCUSSED ON THE STEEL INDUSTRY IN EUROPE” Kiyoshi Ebihara, Nippon Steel Corporation

SIGN UP NOW - EARLY BIRD TICKETS ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL 15TH APRIL

HOW DIGITALIZATION CAN AID DECARBONIZATION – Discussion Panels Day 1 and Day 2 SPEAKERS INCLUDE…

Mark Bula Chief commercial officer, H2GreenSteel

Robert Vandlik Head of digital studio, US Steel Kosice, Slovakia

Carlos Alba Chief digital officer, ArcelorMittal

Paramjit Kahlon Liberty Steel Group Primary Steel & Mining

Professor Katja Windt CDO, SMS group GmbH

Roman Stiftner Managing director Austrian Non-Ferrous Metals Federation and the Austrian Mining & Steel Association

To view the full programme visit www.FutureSteelForum.com EXHIBITORS AND SPONSORS INCLUDE…

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LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

27

100 years in Brazil In part two of our two-part series on ArcelorMittal Longos, we look at the company’s trajectory over the period spanning 1974 to 2004. This period is divided into two phases: first, the modernisation of the existing Monlevade and Sabará mills during a domestic steel boom (1974-1980) and recession (1981 to 1991) and second, the remarkable reshaping of the company’s productive portfolio (1992-2004). By Germano Mendes de Paula* THE 1970s was a decade of intense transformation for the Brazilian economy in general, and for the country’s steel business in particular. Indeed, at the macroeconomic level, the nation reinforced its industrialisation strategy based on the import substitution. Large investments, underpinned mostly by state-owned enterprises (SOEs), were carried out in heavy industries, such as steel, petrochemical and fertilizer, under the umbrella of the so-called ‘Second National Development Plan’. Regarding steel SOEs, CSN, Usiminas and Cosipa were all enlarged, and the construction of two new integrated mills commenced at Tubarão (started-up in 1983) and Açominas (1986).

In the period 1974-1983, $19.7bn was invested in the Brazilian steel industry.

Siderbrás, the SOE holding company, invested $16bn (or 81% of the total amount). Obviously, the SOEs focused on flats and semis gained prominence during those years. Concerning the common long steel segment, in which CSBM is involved, the respective investments reached $2bn.

Brazilian common long rolled steel production amplified from 2.6Mt in 1974 to 4.3Mt in 1980 and then reverted partially to 3.9Mt in 1983. In fact, the country experienced a strong economic recession in the early 1980s. Even though, CSBM varied its common long rolled steel output from 617kt in 1974 (a 23.3% share of production) to 737kt in 1980 (17.2%) and to 693kt in 1983 (17.6%) – see Graph 1.

Therefore, the company lost production share during the fast growth phase, not only for an increasingly important player (Gerdau), but also for minor producers.

However, it should be remembered that Belgo-Mineira Bekaert Artefatos de Arame (BMB), a joint-venture between CSBM and Bekaert, was established in 1975, aiming to produce steel cords for radial tyres.

The Monlevade steelworks installed a new sintering plant in 1978 and a new blast furnace in 1980.

The strong recession in the 1980s caused many bankruptcies of privately owned steelmakers that competed with CSBM. The following companies went out of the

market: Santo Amaro (1982), Coferraz (1983), Metalpen (1983), Santo Stéfano (1984), Santo Olímpia (1986) and Sidelpa (1986). The fact that CSBM adopted a conservative strategy during the euphoric years paid dividends when the headwinds prevailed.

The period 1984-1990 was marked by macroeconomic instability and skyrocketing consumer inflation (1,973% in 1989), which culminated in a heterodox plan in 1990 based on radical inflation stabilisation measures, as it effectively froze 80% of all liquidity of financial assets. The 1980s became known as the ‘lost decade’ for Latin American economies.

Macroeconomic instability, however, didn’t stop Belgo-Mineira from investing in very important steelmaking equipment during the period 1985-1991. A new 1.2Mt/yr BOF went into operation in 1985 in Monlevade, allowing the deactivation of the Siemens-Martin furnaces (in Sabará and Monlevade) and of the BOF (in Monlevade), whose installed capacity had already increased to 550kt/yr. The start-ups

* Professor in Economics, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. E-mail: germano@ufu.br www.steeltimesint.com

LA Update – read MM..indd 1

March 2022

22/03/2022 07:38:02

28

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

of a ladle furnace and 400kt/yr continuous casting took place, respectively, in 1986 and 1988. These investments culminated, in the 1991 inauguration of a second wire rod rolling mill. With this new equipment, Monlevade’s rolling capacity expanded from 770kt/yr to 1,04Mt/yr. Consequently, it was still focusing on wire rod and drawing products.

CSBM’s common long rolled steel output achieved 720kt in 1991 (14.5% of national output). It can be concluded that despite the fact that the company had a relatively small increase in production, even during the golden years (1974-1980), it promoted a massive effort of technological modernisation.

New growth phase According to François Moyen in his book ‘A história da Companhia Siderúrgica BelgoMineira: uma trajetória de crescimento consistente (1921-2005)’, CSBM engaged in a new growth phase (1991-2005) based on acquisitions. It may be added that this strategic movement also implied product diversification and even internationalisation.

In 1993, CSBM acquired the melt shop of Cofavi, located in Cariacica (State of Espírito Santo). It comprised a 320kt/yr EAF and continuous caster. However, Cofavi’s rolling mill activities (150kt/yr of light shapes, bars and rebars and 110kt/yr of medium shapes and bars) continued to be an independent company. In fact, it was agreed that Cofavi would buy 120kt/yr of billets from CSBM and would transform them into rebars to the latter. Nevertheless, this situation offered only temporary relief for Cofavi’s poor financial situation and CSBM purchased the rolling mills in 1997.

In 1994, CSBM acquired 49% of Dedini Siderúrgica, a 350kt/yr EAF and 320kt/ yr rebar mill, quite favourably located in Piracicaba (State of São Paulo), a city 138km from the city of São Paulo. Again, this was a provisional condition, as CSBM gained full March 2022

LA Update – read MM..indd 2

Belgo-Mineira’s production, 1974-2004 (kt)

control of Dedini Siderúrgica in 1997.

CSBM leased Siderúrgica Mendes Jr., a mini-mill located in Juiz de Fora (State of Minas Gerais), 185km from Rio de Janeiro, 262km from Belo Horizonte and 480km from São Paulo. At that time, it consisted of a 720kt/yr EAF, a 1.2Mt/yr rolling mill and a 220kt/yr wire drawing facility. CSBM exercised its purchased option in 2003.

Siderúrgica Mendes Jr. produced mainly rebars and wire rod, allowing CSBM to amplify its market share in the rebar segment.

These three transactions were an inflection point for CSBM as rapid growth was based on acquisitions of minimills, which is a remarkable change for a company that used to be focused on greenfield charcoal integrated mills.

Also, according to Moyen’s book, in 2000, there were five key corporate and industrial changes to be stressed, as it: • Acquired 20% of Acindar, the leading Argentine common long steel producer.

Therefore, CSBM, which was itself a subsidiary of a foreign company, started its own internationalisation; • Sold its stakes in Samitri and Samarco, both iron ore miners, to Vale. As a consequence, it almost released all iron

ore business, except for retaining Mina do Andrade, which is only 11km from Monlevade steelworks; • Leased Itaunense, a 150kt/yr electric steelmaker producing 100kt/yr of rebar and located in Itaúna (State of Minas Gerais); • Started-up a 1Mt/yr coke blast furnace in substitution of five charcoal blast furnaces in Monlevade; • Boosted the capacity of an 800kt/ yr continuous caster to 1,15Mt/yr in Monlevade.

CSBM also initiated its drawing activities in São Paulo in 2002. More importantly it boosted the crude steel capacity of the Piracicaba steelworks to 1.1Mt/yr and took over Acindar, by acquiring 66% of voting capital, both in 2004.

In approximately one decade, CSBM made a radical transformation of corporate strategy, scale and product mix. In 2004, it produced 1.1Mt of pig iron, 3.25Mt of crude steel and 3.1Mt of common long steel products (or 38.6% of national output). In other words, it reverted the previous trend of losing production share and it achieved a very good position to take advantage of the international commodities boom, but this will be discussed in part three of the article. � www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:38:06

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INDIA UPDATE

31

India eyes larger steel market share With supply shortages caused by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, India is now exploring opportunities to increase exports. By Dilip Kumar Jha* THE ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and a flurry of sanctions imposed on the former by the United States and a number of Western countries has opened a plethora of opportunities for Indian steel mills, which hope in ramping up their shipments, they will shrink at least a part of the vacuum created by Russia.

Big players According to the World Steel Association, Russia and Ukraine are the 5th and 12th largest steelmakers in the world respectively, cumulatively accounting for around 10% of the global steel trade. Around 45% of steel production from Russia and nearly 75% from Ukraine are exported to other nations. The ongoing conflict between the two European neighbours could lead to regional steel supply shortages as Russian mills brace for sanctions and Ukrainian steel production is massively disrupted by continuous bombing from the Russian forces. Therefore, in the export markets, leading Indian steel companies can expect to see some market-share gains if they can further increase their capacity utilisation levels.

domestic consumption of steel, which has given a fillip to Indian steel producers for rebalancing the demand-supply situation and expanding their installed capacity.

Meanwhile, reduced market access for Russian steel mills could help Indian steel producers increase footprints in

Opportunities Indian companies are exploring all possible opportunities to cash in on the opportunities thrown to increase their exports. In fact, India’s steel exports have bounced back in the last two years after plunging in 2018-19 on account of a favourable business environment created by enabling government policies. The government has introduced a productionlinked incentive scheme (PLI) as well as an expedited allocation of iron ore and coal mines to help steel mills receive goods from local sources without interruption.

The government also introduced a number of infrastructure projects to boost

geographies like Europe and the MiddleEast, where the CIS countries cumulatively export around 22-23 Mt of steel annually.

Indian mills could also vie to have a greater footprint in the USA, where Russia is a key supplier and where, unfortunately, the presence of Indian steel companies is fairly limited at the moment. But, the extent of export would be limited by the already high capacity utilisation levels of leading steel companies in India.

High raw materials cost to hit margins The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has raised input costs exorbitantly.

Before the conflict, Brent crude oil prices were hovering at around $90 a barrel which has now increased to $125 a barrel. J P Morgan has forecast that it would reach $185 a barrel if the conflict continues at its current rate. As oil prices have gone up, freight rates of cargo ships, which currently stand at $20,000 a day, are likely to reach $30,000 a day. Similarly, coal prices are also rising. Coking coal has breached the

* India correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

India – read MM..indd 1

March 2022

22/03/2022 10:25:48

32

INDIA UPDATE

STATE OF PRECARITY Russia-Ukraine steel status (Mt) Particulars

Russia

Ukraine

Crude steel

Exports

Crude steel

Exports

production

(%age of production)

production

(%age of production)

2012

70.2

38

33.0

73

2013

69.0

34

32.8

75

2014

71.5

39

27.2

79

2015

70.9

42

23.0

77

2016

70.5

44

24.2

75

2017

70.5

44

21.4

71

2018

72.1

46

21.1

72

2019

71.7

41

20.8

75

2020

71.6

44

20.6

74

2021

75.6

--

21.4

--

Sources: Governments of Russia and Ukraine, Icra Ratings

AIMING HIGH India’s steel scene (Mt) Financial year (April-March)

Production

Import

Export

2016-17

91.54

7.22

8.24

2017-18

95.01

7.48

9.62

2018-19

101.29

7.83

6.36

2019-20

102.62

6.77

8.36

2020-21

96.20

4.75

10.78

Source: Ministry of Steel, Government of India

$550/tonne mark, from $250/tonne before the crisis began. Iron ore, another key raw material used in steel making, has seen a sharp increase in prices. V R Sharma, managing director of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd said, “There is a need to control raw material prices for steel mills to sustain. We are hopeful that India’s steel exports will go up.”

Sanctions The imposition of sanctions on Russia is likely to impact domestic steel companies in terms of elevated input costs for some time, until raw material trade flows readjust. Being the fifth largest global coal producer, Russia accounted for around 10% and around 17% of international trade in metallurgical and thermal coals respectively in 2020. International coal prices have already rallied quite sharply since April 2021, amid a sudden spurt in post-Covid demand, with spot prices of premium hard coking coal (FoB Australia basis) and highgrade thermal coal (FoB South Africa basis) increasing by around 300% and around 125% respectively. Elevated coal costs have started to nibble at the margins of listed steelmakers from October onwards, as earnings trended downwards from the high watermark of July-September 2021. In addition, Russia is the third largest global March 2022

India – read MM..indd 2

producer of nickel, a key raw material used in stainless steel production and, along with Ukraine, Russia is also a leading global exporter of iron ore pellets. Supply disruptions of these key steelmaking raw materials, where Russia is a key global supplier, would lead to heightened input cost pressures for Indian steel companies.

Increasing costs “After reporting a steep 65-70% sequential increase in the cost of coking coal in the October-December 2021 quarter, a further increase of 15% is expected in the JanuaryMarch 2022 quarter. Though the price of iron ore has moderated somewhat from

the highs of October-December 2021, and domestic mills have announced some steel price hikes from late January 2022, these will not be able to entirely compensate for the steep rise in coking coal costs.

The ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe could further exert input cost pressures on domestic steel mills,” said Jayanta Roy, senior vice-president & group head, Icra.

Capacity bouncing back The metals meltdown of 2015-16 led to a prolonged industry downturn which persisted for several years, making both lenders and steel mills cautious on new investment projects. However, after a gap of almost eight years, with the industry’s capacity utilization poised to touch 80% in the year 2022-23 again, new investment activity has seen a rebound as lenders redraw their negative list for sectors following the earnings surge of steel companies.

In the next five years between 2022 and 2026, India’s steel capacity is likely to increase by around 40Mt per annum, which is almost double the quantum of capacity added during the previous five-year period spanning from 2017 to 2021. However, notwithstanding these sizeable expansion plans, given the deleveraging that has happened and the healthy cash flows likely to be enjoyed, the steel industry today is more resilient to withstand project related risks.

Conclusion With capacity expansion on the cards, India is eyeing a larger share in global steel trade. But, high input costs may generate headwinds which might stand in the way of any notable success for India’s steel exports. �

www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 10:25:49

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35

UK STEEL MARKET

Recovery is hard, survival is harder How the UK steel industry is battling some of its biggest crises yet: with rising energy prices, carbon tariffs, and global competition at every turn. By Catherine Hill* IN 1974, the National Union of Mineworkers went on strike over their wages. Prime Minister Edward Heath declared a state of emergency, and instituted a three-day work week in an attempt to conserve energy. At the time, Britain got most of its energy from coal, which was also a key component in steel and cement production, used as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore. Heath hoped, mistakenly, that the public would blame the union for the blackouts and massive disruptions they were regularly experiencing. Heath was voted out, and the Labour party took over.

In the aftermath of the Conservatives’ defeat, Nicholas Ridley, a right-wing member of Parliament, drew up a plan

advising the Conservatives how to conquer and dismantle the coal industry the next time their party took power. This ‘Ridley Report’ advocated buying and stocking foreign coal and oil resources, so that if the coal miners went on strike again, the public would not feel the effect. Ridley also suggested that the country ‘train and equip a large, mobile squad of police, ready to employ riot tactics in order to uphold the law against violent picketing.’ Ridley’s report was not to deaf ears, in any case, as Margaret Thatcher sat among his audience, becoming leader of the Conservative party in 1975, and almost a decade later provoking almost a year of bitter striking among miners as she called in mass colliery closures.

Steel is political. It is tied into ground that is argued over, for ownership, cost of cutting into it, and the wages that are given back in return. Once employing over 350,000 workers, and playing a critical role in the construction of postwar Europe, the UK steel industry was key to advancements within the British economy. UK steel was in fact, so crucial to the UK’s status and success that the European Union (EU), described by some scholars as an ‘emerging superpower’, was initially named the European Coal and Steel Community – established to integrate the industries throughout Europe.

Now not even an EU member, the UK has witnessed rapid change in its industry; with globalisation, rising energy prices,

“There are three people that can make things happen”, Stace said, referring to Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Priti Patel, Home Secretary.

“If

they sat in a room and said we’re going to do this, it’s all there, it’s not complex, and it’s not hugely

”.

costly

Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel

* Editorial assistant, Steel Times International www.steeltimesint.com

UK Steel market.indd – read MM..indd 1

March 2022

21/03/2022 14:57:13

36

UK STEEL MARKET

left to campaign to the government for company is ‘well ahead’ of its goal for net and increasing pressure to invest in green reconsideration. zero. technologies all playing a part in a growing Many key industry players within the sense of urgency to prevent decline. The Ward Recycling, scrap metal recycler UK have made publicised statements, Ridley Report seems to have, once again, based in the UK, acknowledged the ‘big calling for governmental support. Gareth taken uncanny effect decades later, with changes’ in the UK metals industry, citing Stace, director-general of UK Steel, called the UK government having recently been the ‘doubling’ of fuel prices, pressure from the situation ‘untenable’, and expressed accused of purchasing foreign steel as the EU with scrap metal legislation changes, frustration at the ‘poor advice’ of the UK a cheaper alternative, as well as steel and the volatile industry market. One thing workers staging their first national the metals industry needed, said strike for more than 50 years, Toby Potter, sales director at Ward, drawing police presence closer was to ‘sit together and find ways to the factories. UK steelmakers to homogenise processes’ – in have been forced to come up with essence, building a better sense of innovative approaches to prevent communication to bring power back future slumps in an industry that is to collective companies, instead of increasingly being driven thousands it all being driven toward individual of miles away. development. For Simon Boyd, According to Jeffrey Kabel, chief managing director of Reid Steel, the transformation officer at Liberty primary challenges facing the wider Steel, the company has turned to UK steel sector are ‘inflation, rising ‘mostly running the facilities at costs, energy prices and carbon costs night’ in order to catch the ‘valleys as well as steelmaking capacity in the of power pricing’. The hope is, in UK and the transition to a modern, Kabel’s eyes, to return to normal decarbonised industry’. However, working hours by the summer – the business model of Reid Steel but complications are added by providing a conception to completion the government’s reticence to service does, in his eyes, ‘reduce acknowledge the impact of energy risk to an extent’, as Reid, unlike Simon Boyd, managing director pricing on British key industries, as other steel companies, does not of Reid Steel well as not providing a time specific share the same key relationship with plan that allows steel companies suppliers – and as a result, is less to prepare for a scaled response. exposed to market instability, which Liberty Steel has undergone a huge although being an advantage for the business transformation in the last company, only further emphasises For Simon Boyd, managing director of few years following the collapse of the vulnerability of others which are Greensill Capital in 2021, one of heavily affected by outcomes that are Reid Steel, the primary challenges facing its largest shareholders, an HMRC out of their control. investigation into unpaid taxes the wider UK steel sector are inflation, There is also the ongoing issue (which has since been withdrawn, of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. saving thousands of jobs), and a The conflict, triggering what Stace rising costs, energy prices and carbon costs recent rescue deal being struck refers to as a ‘massive increase in with Credit Suisse, who are ‘heavily electricity pricing’, risks incurring as well as steelmaking capacity in the UK involved’ in its recovery, according a ‘knock-on effect’ due to Russia’s to Kabel. Credit Suisse has been status as one of the largest global and the transition to a modern, decarbonised hit in the last month with a steel exporters, impacting supplymassive data leak as reported in UK demand dynamics, input costs and industry . newspaper The Guardian, exposing the overall global economy. With criminal clients, prompting a debate the UK steel industry in such a government, promoting solutions such as in Switzerland in regard to bank secrecy fragile position, changes in economy such a shift on clean energy to reduce energy laws. The bank also pleaded guilty, and was as what may be incurred by the Ukrainian costs, which Stace feels will not bring any fined £350 million over a loans scandal in crisis raise questions of survival, not only immediate change, and questions why Mozambique in 2021, accused of ‘serious repositioning. ‘There are three people the government will not take ‘the same failings’ in its financial crime controls. Being that can make things happen’, Stace one of only six steel companies based in the investment risk in energy prices as they said, referring to Boris Johnson, UK Prime have with low carbon’. There is an ironic UK, Liberty’s outlook is heavily tied into the Minister, Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the power play between both government UK market, so any investment vulnerability Exchequer, and Priti Patel, Home Secretary. and industry; as the government enforces is deeply felt – however, Kabel remains ‘If they sat in a room and said we’re going legislation which has an adverse effect optimistic, stating that he is ‘confident to do this, it’s all there, it’s not complex, on the industry, and the industry is then the market will stay buoyant’ and that the and it’s not hugely costly’. Once again,

“

”

March 2022

UK Steel market.indd – read MM..indd 2

www.steeltimesint.com

21/03/2022 14:57:22

37

UK STEEL MARKET

it seems to come down to what Ward referred to – effective communication for a greater collective goal.

The UK government has previously spoken about a push toward clean power sources, which officials state would reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, and resultantly lower production costs, including those of energy. For Kabel, the need to diversify the grid is there, but, he says, ‘you can’t tell Aunt Mary she has to turn the heating off’– for any mass change, there needs to be incentive, and a strong incentive at that. There is no lack of ambition by the government, to develop clean industries – but the leap has not reckoned with the complexity of the transition, which requires investments on a financial and sociopolitical scale. In Boyd’s mind, ‘anything which increases costs for a business is unwelcome’, which includes the ‘green premiums’ associated with transitions to cleaner energy.

So what, in the eyes of the industry, can be done to prevent decline? For Stace, it would need to be a combination of government investment in UK steel for

maintenance, and everybody went off on holiday at the same time to the east coast seaside resorts, where they encountered their neighbours.’

Even without the huge increases in production costs, and global competition, the way of life Heap remembers is long gone – with less than 30,000 UK steelworkers active today, and multiple plants being closed every year. The industry is not only made fragile by energy prices and procurement issues, but by its disparity; there are less workers, so less members in the unions – and unions themselves no longer contain the same level of power to exert than they did historically. Vague political statements, and lofty governmental goals, that offer the outcome, rather than the process, can offset any pressure they may place. A mixture of answers came about, when members of the UK steel industry were asked if they felt optimistic about the industry’s future. Perhaps a better question would have been what was left, other than hope, if circumstances don’t materialise into the future they desperately want to see. �

future projects, a precedent to ensure legislation doesn’t damage the industry, and addressing the current energy crisis.

In Kabel’s opinion, the government is ‘committed to looking at market-based ways to provide assistance’– so while sentiment varies, one issue remains clear: that whatever commitment exists, it needs to be transferred into tangible, solutionbased action, that allows the UK steel industry to emerge from crisis. ‘Will we come out of recovery, not how, is the question’, said Stace. All solutions, he feels, are in reach – but whether they come to fruition, remains to be seen.

UK steel production has never been a predictable business. According to former steelworker John Heaps, who worked for more than 40 years in several of the works in and around Sheffield, the days he remembers are ‘when the housewives of Templeborough checked the wind direction before they put their washing on the line – because wind blowing from the works would cover the washing in smuts in minutes…. and when the works all closed for two weeks in the summer for

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March 2022

21/03/2022 14:57:26

38

UKRAINE INVASION

From riches to rags How Ukraine’s elite risk losing their assets, as invasion evolves from a threat into reality.

By Catherine Hill* IN early February, Metinvest, the Ukraine based group of steel and mining companies, announced its goal to invest US$1.2 billion in Ukraine in 2022. “We have the same purpose – strong and successful enterprises, a strong, peaceful and successful Mariupol, and a strong, peaceful, united and independent Ukraine,’’ said billionaire shareholder Rinat Akhmetov. ‘’We love Mariupol. We love Ukraine. We believe in Mariupol. We believe in Ukraine.

Together we will achieve great success.’’

Just over a week after Akhmetov’s statement was made, Russia invaded Ukraine.

Much of Ukraine’s wealth is based in the metals industry with two of its richest inhabitants involved in steel; Victor Pinchuk, the founder of Interpipe, a major producer of steel products, had an estimated worth of $1.4 billion in 2020, and Akhmetov, who got his start buying up mining assets during a wave of privatizations in Ukraine in the 1990s, was valued at $12.7 billion in 2017. Steel is a huge money-maker for the country, with its wealthiest residents funding capital growth, and sector based developments, but the invasion places its elite in a complex position – as much of their wealth is based in assets which are now under both literal and economic threat. In current terms, for many of Ukraine’s billionaires, their financial fate now rests in the hands of Russia’s president, Vladamir Putin – whose military decisions will irreconcilably dictate the contents of their bank account.

After Russia recognised the separatist republics in Donetsk and Luhansk, Akhmetov stated, “I want to emphasize that [my] businesses will proceed with all the investments we committed to in 2022 plans, no matter what dreadful scenarios we face. This includes investments in Mariupol. I have already instructed my foundation to help with evacuation, medicines and everything necessary, if needed. We will do everything to prevent a

humanitarian disaster.’’ However, Mariupol has since been under what its mayor refers to as ‘constant shelling’, with Putin having authorised a ‘special military operation’ on the city. Akhmetov’s future investments, consequently, may not be so much of an investment into the development of the city, but in its restoration – as bombing reduces its buildings into rubble, and strains the capacity of its hospitals. Even with Akhmetov’s most sincere intentions, and his best financial foot forward, there is no denying the vulnerability of his assets which are located in places of interest to Russian attack, due to their industrial potential. As Taras Berezovets, a Ukrainian political analyst said, ‘Russia can confiscate any assets belonging to Ukrainian tycoons on its territory. They can do it very easily, even without any court decisions, just by a

simple decree.’

Pinchuk is, according to Forbes, one of Ukraine’s most ‘pro-Western billionaires’, and has already been burned by Russia following its occupation of Crimea which caused Interpipe to lose nearly all its business within Russia. Following Russia’s recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk, Pinchuk organised a ‘Ukrainian lunch’ at the Munich Security Conference, where he told attendees: ‘‘We will fight, we are tense, but we won’t panic. We don’t believe [the invasion] will happen but we are ready. We count on Europe and the West’s strong and full support. We hope you feel your responsibility.” Since the invasion, Pinchuk has still been active behind the scenes, hosting ‘a lot of off-record meetings with Western officials to persuade them to get more assistance to Ukraine’, as Berezovets stated. As global businesses increasingly move to the West, Ukraine’s business owners are mimicking the same strategy – and seeking support from western countries. By Putin threatening their assets, they are now, disregarding political standing, enemies of his regime – as their livelihood is reliant on industries that Putin is willing to bring to the ground in order to win the war. Resultantly, their economic stance is clear – for their assets to survive, so must Ukraine.

If Russia’s invasion is successful, Putin will not only benefit from a larger empire, but in gaining further control over a growing commodities market that Ukraine has developed. Ukrainian products such as sunflower oil, uranium, and wheat are all some of the highest globally exported goods within their category, and its steel and iron market is no different, with Ukraine being the fifth-largest exporter of iron by volume, and its 13th largest steel producer, with about 80pc of its production sold to other countries. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, Ukraine was one of its iron powerhouses, accounting for 17% of the USSR’s total

* Editorial assistant, Steel Times International March 2022

Ukraine.indd – read MM....indd 1

www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 10:26:57

UKRAINE INVASION

output. There is a distinct motivation beneath the age-old conquest for power and glory – that of requisitions of huge economic markets that will add to Russia’s roster, and allow it to assert a global dominance that is sector wide.

There is no necessary solution to prevent what Ukraine, and its elite, risks losing. As stated in a report in Forbes Ukraine, the value of any assets held in the separatistheld regions of Donetsk and Luhansk had likely tumbled by as much as 40% in

the days leading up to the attack, while holdings elsewhere in the country had lost at least 20%. There is also no assurance that value will not continue to crash, with strikes, sieges, and bombings taking place without signs of slowing. Even non-Ukrainian multi-national corporations with a presence in Russia, such as Britishregistered mining company Evraz, have witnessed sharp falls in share prices since the invasion began. But in tactical terms, there is little that the business owners can do – the balance is now struck between Putin’s judgment, and Ukraine’s capacity to self-defend. Even if business owners, such as Pinchuk, had previously benefited from trading with Russia, “Anyone’’, as Berezovets stated, ‘‘who is promoting the Russian narrative [has been] quickly marginalized. Politicians or oligarchs who speak about compromise with Putin could be crucified. People are angry.”

People are angry, as is seen in the million

39

numbered protests taking place each day worldwide. There is a simultaneous sense of overwhelming pain, yet also of unityas civilians gather to both shelter from attack, and rally against it. For Ukraine’s billionaires, however, there is not so much a fear of a national loss of identity, but a personal one; as they risk losing the status that their individual identity has been built upon. �

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UKRAINE INVASION

Bad times ahead The possible impact of the war in Ukraine on the EU economy and industry and on the steel sector, by Alessandro Sciarmarelli*

THE impact on the economy and the industry after Ukraine’s invasion, based on what is available via provisional reports/ estimates, is not easy to quantify and/or predict, but will be in any case considerable and will slash all most recent growth forecasts for the economy and the industry in advanced economies.

On the macroeconomic side, major economic forecasters have not yet reviewed their latest forecasts (European Commission, IMF, OECD etc) as it is still too early to quantify the macroeconomic impact of the war on GDP growth. However, latest growth predictions for 2022 (and possibly 2023) will be revised downwards very shortly.

Although a protracted military conflict is possible, any forecast about the duration of the war – and therefore its effects – is currently very difficult to make. However, a prolonged period of economic instability is very likely, with possible large spill-overs for EU, Western economies and potentially the world. The only available estimated macroeconomic impact has been released

by Oxford Economics (OE). Of the major economies, Russia will bear the heaviest impact due to the impact of the very severe sanctions that were set up by Western economies. Major rating agencies, such as S&P and Moody’s, foresee a potential drop in Russia’s real GDP in 2022 between -7% and -9%. The likelihood of Russian government debt default is now estimated at 67%. OE has also lowered its forecasts for European economies, but by around

-0.5%, provisionally.

On the EU side, due to the seriousness of the expected economic impact of the crisis, the suspension of fiscal rules (ie Stability and Growth Pact) has been extended until the end of 2022. Monetary policy by the ECB will remain unchanged, and no interest rate hike in the Euro area is in sight to support business investment and the economy, despite continued inflationary pressures as a result of rising energy prices and energy supply issues.

For the industry and main steel-using sectors, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will hit production in both countries and have a knock-on effect on global industry through a range of different channels, such as financial and supply chain linkages, higher commodity prices and confidence effects.

The severe supply chain issues that have materialised since the summer of 2021 were expected to ease by the first half of 2022, but the current crisis has obviously changed the picture, so that now these issues are set to last longer (depending on the evolution of the crisis, length of the war and post war scenarios). Issues include disruptions all along the supply chain, ie shortage of components (particularly a lack of semiconductors for the automotive sector) high energy prices and production costs, and growing and long-lasting economic uncertainty. Inflation will also be seen around current levels (the highest since 2008) in EU countries at least until the third quarter of 2022.

In the wake of significant economic

sanctions imposed by the US, EU and UK on Russia, the rouble has collapsed (which will push up Russian inflation considerably), forcing the Central Bank to double its key interest rate to 20%.

Furthermore, Russia was excluded from the Swift international payments system, making it harder to conduct transactions for Russian commodities. This will impact Russian production and cause supply chain disruptions in countries with close trade linkages with Russia. Countries that are geographically closer to Russia are likely to see the largest disruption to their manufacturing sector – among EU countries, Lithuania (18%) and Bulgaria (16%) source a significant share of inputs from Russia.

Although available reports and estimates suggest that chipmakers have sufficient inventories to weather the shortage in the near-term, further disruptions to chip supplies could jeopardise the recovery in global automotive production. German automotive producers, such as VW and BMW, are having to idle European plants due to the shortage of key parts from Ukraine.

Given the size of the German automotive industry, the impact of this could lead the German economy into recession in Q1 2022 (after the GDP drop already seen in Q4 2021) if alternative suppliers cannot be found.

The Russia-Ukraine war has pushed up commodity prices substantially over recent weeks. At the time of writing, oil

* Director, Market Analysis & Economic Studies, Eurofer www.steeltimesint.com

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UKRAINE INVASION

prices have risen to (nominal) US$111 per barrel– a level not seen since 2014 – while European natural gas prices have also surged. Persistently high oil prices increase manufacturing costs, particularly for oil intensive industries, which would have a knock-on effect down the supply chain. And despite the expectation that the normalisation of saving rates will boost consumer spending, the squeeze on real income growth from higher inflation combined with recent declines in consumer confidence in some countries will likely dent production, particularly in consumerorientated sectors.

Steel-using sectors’ output will be certainly impacted throughout 2022, although it is now not easy to quantify how much. EUROFER’s latest output forecasts (released in early February this year) will be revised in March ahead of the release of the next Quarterly Economic and Market Outlook. Automotive is most likely to remain the most vulnerable sector and the most severely hit. On the other hand the construction sector, thanks to continued public support (both at the EU and the national level), is expected to continue to

prove more resilient.

Based on first views assessing the risks of supply disruption caused by war, the European steel industry as a whole may soon be facing a very broad range of metallurgic raw materials and inputs supply disruption risks including iron ore (fines and pellets) and hot-briquetted iron, coal, ferroalloys, rolls and technical equipment.

On the trade side, the EU has approved new sanctions against Russia as well as Belarus for its supporting role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For Belarus, among the sectors hit are wood, timber, steel and iron, which were not covered by previous sanctions, and cumulatively represent nearly 40% of all Belarusian exports to the EU.

As far as Russia is concerned, on 28 February the EU sanctioned the Russian majority owner of Severstal, Alexey Mordashov, among other Russian oligarchs.

This means that all funds and economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by the sanctioned person or natural or legal persons, entities or bodies associated with them are frozen. Practically, this means freezing of sales into the EU. SBB-Platts reported that Severstal on 2 March has ceased shipments to the EU due to the sanctions that were imposed on its majority shareholder as a consequence of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The EU has also prohibited the export of machinery and equipment goods to Russia (which may ultimately be used to increase weapons production). Due to overall sanctions and war-related disruptions, a considerable reduction in Russia’s exports to the EU is expected in 2022. Russia is the second largest exporter of finished steel products to the EU, as its exports of finished steel to the EU at the end of 2021 accounted for 12.3% of total imports of finished products from third countries (the first being Turkey with 15%). �

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INFRASTRUCTURE

43

Boom time...

...for US steelmakers The recently passed Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) bipartisan infrastructure bill will eventually be very supportive to the US steel industry, although not for another six to 12 months. In the meantime, however, US infrastructure construction activity continues to make modest gains from the projects that are already in the pipeline. By Myra Pinkham* GIVEN that infrastructure investment tends to be very incremental in nature, even once the new projects start to be constructed, there won’t necessarily be a big splash of immediate steel sales, Philip Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), noted. But it still bodes well for US steelmakers, particularly long products producers, who will be seeing a sustained increase in steel demand given that the IIJA focuses on a wide array of traditional steelintensive infrastructure projects including bridges, roads, airports, seaports, the electricity grid, broadband access and water distribution systems.

In fact, Philip Gibbs, an equity research analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets, said that his baseline expectation is that the

IIJA should stimulate 3Mt (short tons) of US steel demand over the next five years starting in 2023 if everything goes without a hitch. That, according to Kevin Dempsey, president and chief executive officer of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), represents an additional 40-45Mt of additional steel demand over the life of the projects involved.

Such investments will also improve commerce, Bell said, as it will make it easier for companies to meet their customers’ demand and for them to ship their products both throughout the country and around the world. But he said that he believes that the key to the IIJA’s success, particularly as it relates to the US steel industry, is the successful administration

and implementation of the plan and a focus upon domestic procurement preferences.

“To truly build America back better, we need to use American steel, which is the cleanest, greenest steel in the world,” he maintained.

There is no question that infrastructure construction – not just for roads and bridges, but the wide array of infrastructure that is addressed in the IIJA – much of which is very steel intensive – is needed. The latest American Society of Civil Engineers’ quadrennial Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, released in March 2021, showed improvement with its first overall score outside of the D range in 20 years; at C- it signals that the state of most US infrastructure remains less than mediocre,

* USA correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

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INFRASTRUCTURE

especially given that 11 of the 17 categories that it evaluates received D-range grades.

US President Joe Biden touched upon this during his recent State of the Union address, stating, “America used to have the best roads, bridges and airports on Earth, but now our infrastructure is ranked 13th in the world, and we won’t be able to compete for the jobs of the 21st century if we don’t fix that.” He maintained that not only will the IIJA put the US economy on a path to be more highly competitive with the rest of the world, but to do that in a way that the nation is also able to withstand the devastating effects of the climate crisis and to promote environmental justice. He said that 4,000 projects related to the IIJA have already been announced.

AISI’s Dempsey estimated that the $1.2 trillion IIJA authorizes funding for about $850 billion in steel-containing infrastructure investment, including the reauthorization of the FAST Act highway bill, benefitting nearly every type of steel product typically associated with infrastructure construction, including rebar and other bar products, plate, structural steel and tubular goods.

It, however, is just a down payment on the United States’ infrastructure needs, Scott Hazelton, managing director of IHS Markit’s construction service, stated.

“There is still a long way to go,” he said, pointing out that the ASCE’s 2021 report card indicated that there is about $4 trillion in investments needed to bring US infrastructure up to scratch.

This is supported by the early February announcement by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) that, based on the recently released US Department of Transportation 2021 National Bridge Inventory database, nearly 224,000 US bridges – 36% of all domestic March 2022

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bridges – need major repair work or need to be replaced. ARTBA estimated that the cost to just do this, not counting the investment needs for other types of infrastructure, would be $260 billion.

Partly because of the IIJA, but because of other factors as well, including very large increases in state and local revenues, Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) said that contractors are very optimistic about infrastructure construction categories. In fact, he said that 63% of the respondents to AGC’s 2022 hiring and business outlook survey said they expected that the market for highway and bridge construction would expand in this year and that there were also a very high rate of positive responses relating to water and sewer markets as well as for other transportation infrastructure, including airport, transit, rail and trucking facility construction projects.

This comes after fixed public construction spending was already down 4.2% yearon-year in 2021 (or down about 7% in

inflation-adjusted real dollars) and the largest public construction category (highway and street) only inched up 0.2% from 2020 levels – despite overall US construction spending increasing 8.2% last year. While it seems counterintuitive, Simonson said that is because several types of infrastructure construction actually sped up at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that was the case for highway and bridge construction, attributing that to the fact that with the lower traffic volumes it was easier for the departments of transportation to close traffic lanes longer enabling some work to be done in 2020 that would otherwise have bled into 2021. “But I expect that it will increase substantially this year,” Simonson said.

Brian Raff, vice president of market development for the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), pointed out that funding for those projects, including for steel bridges, has been constantly in place through the FAST Act since it was passed in

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INFRASTRUCTURE

2015.

Simonson said that there was a similar phenomenon for projects to rebuild, reorganize and expand the nation’s airports with the drastic drop in air traffic in 2020 resulting in reduced passenger traffic and aircraft movement. However, that was somewhat short-lived given a commensurate reduction in airport revenues. “Therefore, recently there has been reduced airport construction that had been planned two years ago,” he noted.

“Overall, it should be a better year this year for infrastructure construction, even better than it will be for private nonresidential construction,” Hazelton said, noting that while overall US infrastructure construction spending could grow by 4.2% this year in real terms, real construction spending for non-residential structures is expected to be down about 5%. He said that the largest winners will be highway and street construction, which is expected to see 9% real growth in 2022 and to move up another 7.2% next year before peaking in 2024.

It is also roads and bridges that is the biggest single piece of the IIJA bipartisan infrastructure bill that was signed into law in November, Simonson pointed out, with the bill not only reauthorizing, but significantly increasing the amount of funding for the FAST Act. SMA’s Bell noted that of the $1.2 trillion bill, $548 billion is new money while about $715 billion involves the reauthorization of funds, including for the FAST Act. Hazelton said about $110 billion of the new money is for roads and bridges with about $40 billion of that dedicated to bridges. He noted that in addition the bill includes $66 billion for rail (including $12 billion for high speed rail), $39 billion for public transit systems, $25 billion for airports, $17 billion for ports and waterways, $15 billion for electric vehicle infrastructure (including the Biden administration’s plan to build a national network of 500,000 EV charging stations, but also for some non-infrastructure investment, including the purchases of electric buses), $33 billion for electric grid infrastructure, $55 billion for broadband infrastructure, another $55 billion for water infrastructure and $50 billion for water resiliency.

The American Association of Port Authorities noted that America’s seaports are investing $31 billion in port infrastructure every year and plans to spend www.steeltimesint.com

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$163 billion between 2021 and 2025 to improve port facilities. In addition to funds from IIJA, it could get additional monies should the proposed Build Back Better bill ever be signed into law.

AISC calls this a huge bipartisan achievement that is expected be a huge boon for US design, fabrication and construction industries with a huge economic impact that will last generations.

Max Puchtel, the association’s director of government relations and sustainability, said this is particularly true for transportationrelated infrastructure, which he said had been woefully underfunded and unchanged for some time.

Bell agreed that it is quite a

surprising, even unheard of, bipartisan accomplishment given that the bill passed the Senate 69-30 in this hyper-partisan era.

“This was due to the need and the push to be competitive on the global stage,” he said, noting, “Without good infrastructure it is hard for US businesses to compete.”

While originally being paired with the IIJA, the Build Back Better proposal – or portions of it – continues to have an uphill battle getting passed. “While it does contain a lot of useful things, it doesn’t include much that could be classified as infrastructure,” particularly steel-intensive infrastructure, Hazleton noted. “Also, it is tough to get such a big, diverse package through.” Bell agreed, noting that while some of its provisions could be helpful – including to the construction sector, it has a price tag that people, including Congress, don’t seem to be willing to pay.

Thus far the IIJA hasn’t had any measurable impact upon steel demand,

45

said John Anton, a director of IHS Markit’s pricing and purchasing service, noting that this year potential projects will be going through the planning, design and approval process. “It won’t be until 2023 – or possibly late in the fourth quarter of 2022 – that we start seeing increased demand from the bill,” he said, noting that even in 2009 the so-called ‘shovel-ready’ projects still took six to nine months to get started.

It is expected that it will take even longer – most likely 12 to18 months, for demand to start hitting downstream companies, including steel fabricators, Puchtel said.

On the other hand, certain types of indirect steel demand, including steel going into construction equipment, could actually start picking up quicker. Anton said that yellow goods manufacturers who are anticipating a good year in 2023, could start making more equipment this year, especially given that 2021 was also a good year for construction equipment.

Puchtel said that the amount of demand that domestic steel companies will be eventually getting from these infrastructure projects will also be supported by the Buy American protections that will be coming online across the board over the next five to 10 years and beyond that, as well as how using US-produced steel – particularly steel produced by US electric arc furnace producers – satisfies the more stringent environmental goals given that US steel is among the lowest energy-intensive and lowest carbon footprint steel in the world.

It remains somewhat uncertain how tight supply for the types of steels used for these infrastructure projects will be at the peak of construction activity. However, it is not expected to prompt a big surge in mill expansions.

“When companies make investments, they are not just zeroed in on one thing,” Bell said. “They do so because the timing is right and to meet all of their customers’ demands, not just for infrastructure construction.”

Anton agreed, stating that they don’t want to be stuck with a white elephant once the projects wind down. He said that this isn’t why certain steelmakers – such as Nucor, Commercial Metals, Optimus Steel and Liberty Steel – have announced plans for new rebar micro-mills and other long product expansions or restarts. “It is more to have mills located closer to demand, including in regions where there currently isn’t adequate steel capacity.” � March 2022

22/03/2022 10:28:36

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INFRASTRUCTURE

The future of steel bridge engineering Philipp Wenger, technical

Frank Schächner,

director, SBP

administrative cirector, SBP

The new Neckar Bridge is both an iconic introduction to Stuttgart and, simultaneously, a pioneering engineering achievement. The four-track railway bridge over the River Neckar has its innovative design to thank for this acclaim.

THE new Neckar bridge has a span of nearly 80 metres. Thick steel plates combining an extremely demanding functionality with filigree aesthetics at the same time were used for the structure’s steel sails.

Longitudinally profiled (LP) plates supplied

by Dillinger – the world’s technological leader for tailor-made heavy plates – contributed decisively to the overall result.

With a carefully selected variably adjustable thickness across plate length, the plates permit optimum matching of the plate profile with the street pattern.

The design of the new Neckar Bridge originates from the renowned independent engineering consultancy Schlaich Bergermann Partnership (sbp), of Stuttgart.

Founded in 1980, the company now employs a total of 190 employees and earns some 40% of its turnover from bridge engineering projects. The inception of the consultancy’s history is marked by the design of Munich’s Olympic stadium roof, the starting point for many subsequent lightweight structures. In the 1980s, the March 2022

Dillinger.indd – read MM....indd 1

company designed the Second Hooghly River Bridge in India. At the time, the cable-stayed bridge boasted the world’s largest span. SBP’s design for the cablenet roof of the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart ushered in the start of the success story of this roof pattern. Innumerable construction projects around the world bear witness to the consultancy’s power of engineering innovation. Headquartered in Stuttgart, sbp is now globally represented in New York, São Paulo, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin and Madrid. The company is the five times winner of the German Bridge Design Prize – the highest distinction in bridge engineering. The award is donated by the German Association of Consulting Engineers (VBI) and the Federal Chamber of Engineers, and is presented in recognition of the most elegant, innovative and sustainable new or modernised bridge structures. The new Neckar Bridge may well be on track to continue sbp’s success story.

Being part of the Stuttgart 21 infrastructure project, within the scope of which

Stuttgart’s main station is undergoing reconstruction and the associated railway complex reconfigured, the new bridge is also an element of the Paris-MunichBudapest main line. Its location is derived from the largely underground redesign of the existing rail routing on the Neckar, a sensitive choke point. As a result of the conversion of the existing rail terminal into a low-level through station, the track route now takes on a new orientation, at 90° to the original layout. This is also the reason for the replacement of the existing bridge over the Neckar with a new structure for the city’s urban rapid transit rail system (the “S-Bahn”) and for long-distance rail traffic.

At a length of 345 metres and a width of 25 metres, the Neckar railway bridge has spans of 77 and 74 metres. At its highest point, it is located 15 metres above the river’s normal water level. On the west side, the bridge’s superstructure divides, entering at this point two separate tunnels: for the S-Bahn, the tracks lead to the new underground station, while long-distance www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:02:39

INFRASTRUCTURE

47

The new Neckar Bridge is both an iconic introduction to Stuttgart and a pioneering engineering achievement

Striking steel sails identify the two main spans above the river

rail traffic reaches the new main station via the second tunnel.

Steel sails replace cables The new Neckar Bridge consists of a seven-span continuous beam. Striking steel sails identify the two main spans, above the river. Four spans are suspended by steel sails and tension ties-chords on nine steels masts. SBP developed a longitudinal support structure consisting of three hollow-box steel girders for the steelreinforced concrete composite structure.

This is immovably carried on three rows of main piers in the longitudinal direction at the outer sides and at the middle of the superstructure and is supported by the steel sails. In this way, the slender new supports absorb the enormous horizontal braking forces, which can occur on this four-track railway bridge. The aim of SBP engineers was to achieve a visually lightweight and transparent bridge design despite the span of nearly 80 metres and the loads and forces imposed by a four-track railway. The www.steeltimesint.com

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precondition for this was a top support structure featuring tension ties, which run downwards from the aforementioned nine masts. Unlike cable-stayed bridges of similar design, SBP selected not cables but an arrangement of steel plates, thus interpreting anew the model of a classical self-anchored suspension, or tension tieschord, bridge with rigid tension ties. Groups of plates consisting of two vertical plates joined to surrounding end plates form the tension ties and mastheads of all the sails.

Following the principle of the inversion of an arched support structure, SBP resolved the tension ties into sails. Philipp Wenger, technical director at SBP, explains the underlying concept: “In the arch, the vertical forces from the substructure are transmitted via the arch tangents in the form of compressive forces. If this principle is inverted, the arch tangents become tension ties loaded purely by tensile forces.

For this reason, a relatively thin crosssection expanding in a slight trumpet-shape at the bottom, converging in a taper in

the upward direction and then becoming increasingly thicker, was selected for this inverse arch.” This means that the maximum stress ratio in the entire sail is equal, as a result of the differing thicknesses of the steel plates throughout the entire length.

In all, a total of 18 half-sails of identical geometry were welded together to create the nine sails that distinguish this bridge.

The sails bear the forces exerted largely in the form of a membrane and have been produced using plates of thicknesses varying across the sail surface.

Bespoke tailoring in LP plates For every tension ties structure of the two outer girders, two wedge-shaped LP plates, the thickness of which increases from 35 mm to 90 mm, were welded together to plate groups. These were then longitudinally joined to 10.5-metre long elements with a thickness of 70mm to 180 mm. For the central, significantly more heavily stressed sails, plate groups of up to 250 mm in thickness and consisting of March 2022

22/03/2022 07:03:17

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INFRASTRUCTURE

LP plates supplied by Dillinger, with their variably adjustable thickness across their length, assure optimum matching of the plate profile with the stress patterns

The tension ties are constructed of two longitudinally joined plates, each with a variable

Comparison of a design based on conventional plates and Dillinger’s longitudinally profiled

thickness of 35 to 125 millimetres

plate

The modelling illustrates the plate-thickness distribution of the longitudinally joined groups

The inversion principle for an arched support structure into tension ties

of plates

the higher-strength grades S460ML and S460QL were needed. Since the LP plates could be supplied only in normalised delivery condition (S460NL, for example), recourse was made to milled-to-shape plates for these tension ties. The use of LP plates was a virtually obvious step for SBP for the tension ties spanned visually like a sail canvas for load transmission and with a cross-section tapering downward.

“We were aware, of course, that these plates would be a possible solution to implement variable thicknesses and also exhaustively exploit potential cost benefits”, remembers Frank Schächner, administrative director at SBP. “The invitation to tender had, as always, to be product-neutral”, he adds. The contractor commissioned

by Deutsche Bahn for the construction of the new bridge, Max Bögl, of Neumark, March 2022

Dillinger.indd – read MM....indd 3

nonetheless selected these very special plate profiles supplied by Dillinger. Thanks to their variably adjustable thickness in the longitudinal direction during the rolling process, LP plates permit optimum adaptation of the plate profile to structuralanalysis, design and production-related needs. Featured in Dillinger’s product range since 1983 and continuously refined and further developed since then, such plates now possess references throughout Europe for their successful use in bridge and surface civil engineering. Their potential for specific profile creation have also proven their worth for the design of extremely long rotor blades for wind turbines. Available in all cases from Dillinger as single-, double- or multiple-bevel variants, LP plates eliminate the need for the otherwise unavoidable cost-intensive and time-consuming

machining and welding together of a series of smaller individual plates. This reduces not only material usage, but also the weights needing to be transported and installed.

By economising on welds, they additionally reduce not only production and inspection times, but also welding costs. Despite their complex production and the associated higher overheads, the bottom line is, nonetheless, cost-savings of up to 10%.

In addition, fewer welds and the ability of positioning them in less stressed areas assure safer designs that are significantly less susceptible to metal fatigue.

Innovative steel!

In the construction of the new Neckar Bridge, a further aspect spoke more generally for the use of Dillinger heavy plate. The bridge is located in Stuttgart’s www.steeltimesint.com

22/03/2022 07:04:22

INFRASTRUCTURE

The front face of Dillinger’s fine-grained structural steel was ground flush

49

Comparison with a pack of cigarettes illustrates the plate dimensions of the S460 masthead axes

Tension ties consisting of LP and masthead plates in front of the longitudinal joints

The 15-metre long tension ties with the mastheads await installation on-site. The masts can be seen in the background

mineral spa protection zone: Bad Cannstatt is, after Budapest, Europe’s most important mineral-water spa, yielding 44 million litres each day. The new bridge is located in the core zone of the geological strata bearing the artesian (confined) mineral water at very high pressure. In order to preclude any damage to the confining bed and, therefore, leakage of mineral water, the project had to be prevented from disturbing the natural pressure conditions prevailing there. Correspondingly severe restrictions were, therefore, imposed during the foundation and construction periods.

For this reason, the longitudinal support structure was also implemented – contrary to the original planning – using steel rather than concrete. This made it possible to reduce the bridge’s deadweight by a good 20%, with the result that significantly less weight needed to be diverted into the ground of the site.

Europe’s leading producer of heavy plate, Dillinger, supplied a total of 1,600 tonnes of steel to Max Bögl – in the form, in particular, of special steels in large plate thicknesses and formats. Of this quantity, LP www.steeltimesint.com

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A 4.50-metre wide path for use by pedestrians and cyclists is suspended below the new Neckar Bridge and was opened for public use in May 2021

plates of structural steel grades S355J2+N, S355N and S355NL (for the tension ties) accounted for 169 tonnes. Primarily thermomechanically (TM) rolled steel – including more than 30 tonnes of heavy, extremely large-format plates of grade S460ML – was used for the longitudinal and transverse beams, the masthead plates and the non-variable-thickness components of the sails. The large formats of these

TM plates made it possible to significantly reduce the number of welds necessary and, additionally, to save weight, thanks to the higher strength of this steel. At the same time, its low carbon equivalent assured excellent working properties, weldability and toughness, with the result that it contributed just as much to the safety of the design as to the cost-effectiveness of the project.

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INFRASTRUCTURE

The masthead weld, which connects the 250 millimetre thick S460QL plates with the

The masthead weld also required sophisticated heat treatment

masthead plate, necessitated sophisticated heat treatment

Completed mastheads with tension ties.

The SBP engineers aimed for a visually lightweight bridge structure, despite the span of nearly 80 metres

The critical masthead connection A great challenge for both design and production was presented by the fixing of the vertical masthead slabs – up to 250 mm in thickness and consisting of S460QL – to the masthead plates.

Thanks to the pattern of forces flowing between the sails and the masts, the mastheads, to which the tension ties connect on both sides, were particularly critical points. Plate thickness and the high-strength fine-grained structural steel supplied by Dillinger necessitated not only agreement in individual cases but also special approval by German Railways, since the rail authority’s codes and standards permitted only a maximum plate thickness of 100 mm. For SBP’s experts it was, therefore, essential to prove the necessary fatigue strength of these heavily loaded welds by means, inter alia, of extensive structural and Charpy V-notch energy tests on finite-element volumetric models. For the circumferential butt weld completed low-notch on this basis, the large-format plates were firstly preheated to nearly 500° C and carefully protected against cooling March 2022

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SBP performed extensive calculations to determine the fatigue strength of the masthead welds: the red areas shown in these notch-stress tests are the most heavily stressed zones.

throughout the complex welding process.

In Philipp Wenger’s view, the new Neckar Bridge is of exemplary character for modern steel-bridge engineering: “The combination of such high mechanical strength, thicknesses and shaping of the steels to boost properties for the same stress levels have never before occurred in this form.” In his estimation “… comparable plates with thicknesses of up to 250 mm have yet to be used in such quantities and using such

preparation and installation methods, even abroad.”

For Frank Schächner too, the futureorientated advantages of the new knowledge gained for steel-bridge engineering are readily apparent: “Thanks to the selection of an efficient support structure, paired with the use of high-strength steels, the Neckar Bridge represents a new dimension in sustainability and cost-efficiency, Schächner said.” � www.steeltimesint.com

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51

Hitting the spot every time For many years now, Dynamic Soft Reduction has been regarded as a proper method of improving the internal quality of slabs, in particular, reducing centre segregation and porosities to a minimum.

With DynaGap Soft Reduction technology, the advanced secondary cooling model Dynacs3D and the proven SMART segment design, Primetals Technologies has maintained its cutting edge position with regard to continuous casting technology. This article provides an overview of the technological benefits, design features and automation concept of the SMART Single Roll DynaGap (SRD) segments as well as information about their first implementations at Ternium in Brazil and Anshan in China including operational and quality results. By M Riedler*, P Pennerstorfer* WHILE process models have been improved significantly over recent years, the efficiency of Dynamic Soft Reduction was always limited by the discretization error, which inherently exists if segment rollers cannot be positioned individually. The discretization error increases hereby with decreasing length of the mushy zone and disadvantageous positioning of the point of final solidification right in the middle of one segment.

The recently developed new SMART Single Roll DynaGap (SRD) segment type allows for a fully dynamic alignment of individual rollers and, therefore, an optimum gap alignment within the mushy zone by avoiding any discretization deviation from the optimal gap.

Requirements on slab centreline segregation are becoming increasingly demanding, especially with applications that require high strength, toughness and good weldability. Slabs with low

segregation intensity are microstructurally more homogeneous in subsequent rolling and other thermo-mechanical processes.

Studies (1, 2) have shown that segregation is caused by mass flow of solute-enriched liquid solidification contractions during final solidification, which leads to accumulation of impure molten steel at the point of final solidification. Centre line segregation reveals itself as inhomogeneities in the centre area of the strand, where the final solidification takes place. Together with centre line segregation, porosities may form due to an inadequate liquid pool available to feed the solidifying matrix, leaving voids at the centre line of the strand.

The main factors of the continuous casting process that have an influence on the intensity of centre line segregation are: • Chemical composition of the steel, especially elements which are prone to segregation like C, Mn, S and P • Superheat (3)

• Casting speed (4) and its variation • Casting width and thickness • Intensity and distribution of secondary cooling (5) • Geometry of the machine (2) (deviations of alignment and gap of the support rollers) Adequate counter measures to reduce the severity of segregation are: • Precise prediction and position control of the solidification end point (2) • Electromagnetic stirring (3) • Adjustment and monitoring of the geometry of the machine (6) • Soft reduction (5-9) Soft reduction is generally understood as a reduction of the strand thickness during the continuous casting process close to the range of final strand solidification.

Even though process models(10 12) improved significantly over the past years in order to

* Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH, Austria www.steeltimesint.com

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Fig.1 (a) Soft reduction with standard segments; (b) Soft reduction with SRD segments

Fig.2 - (a) Soft Reduction with standard segments – linear soft reduction profile; (b) SRD

with individual roller positioning

Segments providing full flexibility in defining the soft reduction profile

calculate the point of final solidification with higher precision, the efficiency of soft reduction was always limited by an inherent discretization error when using conventional segments, where a number of rollers are mounted on the same segment frame and cannot be positioned individually (Fig 1a). Primetals Technologies’ recently developed SRD (Single Roll DynaGap) segment type allows for an individual roller positioning within the mushy zone by avoiding any discretization deviation from the aim gap (Figure 1b).

Due to the aforementioned discretization error, it is widely accepted as good practice to position the point of final solidification at the position of the last roller of a conventional segment by adjusting the casting speed accordingly (Fig 2a). In this favourable casting condition, the soft reduction profile is applied as a linear reduction profile. Contrarily, SRD segment technology provides full flexibility in defining the soft reduction profile independent of the position of the point of final solidification inside the segment. Fig 2b shows a progressive reduction profile, where the reduction rate is increased steadily until the point of final solidification.

At TERNIUM’s steel plant in Santa Cruz, Brazil, the two 2-strand casters with installed casting thicknesses of 255, 220 and 200 mm have been equipped with soft reduction technology since their start-up in 2010. Soft reduction is applied for all casting thicknesses and steel grades in production, whereas the amount of the applied soft reduction process varies between 1.5 – 2.0% of the casting thickness depending on the steel grade group. In a normal casting operation, soft reduction is applied in one March 2022

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Fig 3. Overview of integrated process models

to three segments before the point of final solidification (as a portion of the length of the mushy zone which itself depends on steel grade, thickness, secondary cooling conditions and so on.). The reduction rate in production ranges, therefore, between 0.8 – 1.1 mm/m.

Modernization project In August 2015 TERNIUM (formerly thyssenkrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico) awarded Primetals Technologies the contract to modernize two 2-strand slab casters in Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The two main goals of the modernization were the increase of production capacity by extension of the metallurgical length and the improvement of internal slab quality by focusing on the soft reduction process. The improvement of the calculation precision of the point of final solidification was accomplished by upgrading the Level 2 System with the newest available process models for secondary cooling (DynaPhase

and Dynacs 3D) and segment control (DynaGap Soft Reduction 3D) as can be seen in Fig 3.

The software model DynaPhase calculates all the thermo-physical data used by Dynacs 3D. DynaPhase is available as an online tool to determine the material properties for the current steel grade analysis. Dynacs 3D accurately assesses the heat transfer from the slab surface resulting from radiation, heat transfer to the rolls, natural convection and spray water. The thermal tracking module from Dynacs 3D is used by DynaGap Soft Reduction 3D to dynamically adjust the roll-gap profile even in transient casting conditions and effectively apply the predefined soft reduction strategy on the strand.(10-13) The aforementioned inherent discretization error due to the positioning of standard SMART segments was encountered by installing two SRD segments on Strand 1 of CCM1.

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Fig 5. Outer bow and lateral guidance frame of the SRD segment

1. Outer bow 2. Single roller unit 3. Lateral guidance frame Fig 4. Assembly of the SRD segment 1. Connection surface. 2. Segment fixation. 3. Water connection. 4. Drivent roller. 5. Idle roller. 6. Adapter for roller/ bearing cooling and spray nozzles. 7. Contact surfaces for SRU guidance.

Fig 6. Single roller unit (SRU) of the SRD segment

Fig.7 - Exchange of single roller unit (SRU)

1. Support beam. 2. Lifting cyclinder. 3. Roller beam.

4. Hydraulic block. 5. Position sensor. 6. Spray nozzle.

SRD segment technology As mentioned previously, SRD segments can adjust each roller on the upper frame individually in order to follow precisely the solidification point during soft reduction without any discretization error. Primetals Technologies developed this special type of segment in order to offer an upgrade solution for casters that produce sensitive steel grades, which inherently requires the interchangeability with SMART segments as well as with other segment designs. Fig 4 shows an assembly of an SRD segment as installed in CCM1. The main components of this segment type are one outer bow, two lateral guidance frames and seven single roller units. (14) The outer bow, as shown in Fig 5, comprises four connection surfaces for the www.steeltimesint.com

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lateral guiding frame, one driven and six idle rollers, water connections and segment fixations. The water connections and segment fixations are identical to those of the conventional SMART segments, which mean that this type of segment is 100% interchangeable at any horizontal position.

The lateral guidance frame provides the mounting positions for the fixed part of the individual single roller units (SRU), where the adaptors for roller and bearing cooling and spray nozzles are integrated.

Additionally, it provides the guidance for the movable part of the single roller units providing contact surfaces (built up welding) for the sliding plates of the SRU. Each segment consists of seven identical single roller units, which consist of a support beam, two lifting cylinders

and a roller beam, as depicted in Fig 6.

Additionally, on each SRU a hydraulic block, two position sensors and spray nozzles of the secondary cooling system are mounted.

The maximum force acting on a single roller can never exceed the maximum available hydraulic force, since each roller is positioned individually. Each roller is, therefore, overload-protected, which prevents damage to the bearings and the roller surface. Each adjustable roller is embedded in a functional unit that can be quickly exchanged (Fig 7). This exchange can be performed in the maintenance area or in the caster during a casting break.

Before insertion into the segment, each individual roller unit can be pretested and calibrated. When this roller unit is being installed, all utility supplies are connected March 2022

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Fig.10 - Installation of two SRD segments on strand 1 of CCM1 (Ternium Brazil) at position 9 and 10 Fig 8. SRD segment variants

Fig 9. (L and R) SRD segment of Anshan

Customer

No. of rollers

Roll diameter [mm]

Adjustment force per roller [kN]

Ternium, Brazil

7

300

1200

OMK Vyksa, Russia

6

355

2200

Anshan, China

5

400

4000

Table 1. Basic parameters of SRD segment

Fig 11. Installation of two SRD segments on strand 1 of CCM1 (Ternium Brazil) at position 9 and 10

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automatically and only two bolts need to be tightened. This enables a simple handling of individual rollers instead of the need to exchange a whole segment when only one roller needs maintenance.

The individual roller units use the already proven, and in conventional segments implemented, DynaGap positioning technology using simple on/off valves.

Instead of the four individual axes of a conventional SMART segment, 14 individual axes need to be controlled simultaneously.

The newly developed SRD segment controller, which is installed on all six segment positions of the horizontal part of Strand 1 of CCM 1, is able to handle both segment types. The SRD segment controller distinguishes automatically between both segment types and sends this information to the Dynagap Soft Reduction 3D system in order to configure the caster set-up.

Variants of the SRD segment Beside the SRD segment in Ternium Brazil, further variants of SRD segments were engineered for other steel plants.

Depending on the requirements of the customer, the adjustment force of the roller and consequently the dimension of the rollers and the size of the segment varies (Fig 8).

The SRD segment in Ternium Brazil can apply a soft reduction amount of 200%, compared to a conventional SMART segment, on the strand. Anshan requested a SRD segment, which should be capable of performing increased soft reduction (also called heavy reduction) in the mushy zone of up to 20 mm within one segment (Fig 9). Therefore, the necessary adjustment force per roller increased dramatically, as can be seen from Table 1. www.steeltimesint.com

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Trial

Steel grade group

%C

%Mn

%P

%S

Casting speed

Super heat SR amount SRD (% standard)

1

Peritectic

0.146

0.565

0.013

0.005

1.30 m/min

20°C

100%

2

Peritectic Alloyed

0.104

0.400

0.014

0.006

1.30 m/min

16°C

125%

3

Peritectic

0.089

0.921

0.014

0.003

1.25m/min

14°C

175% and 200%

SR amount SMART Standard amount

Table 2. Test plan

(a)

(b)

Fig 12. Gap profiles shown in the level 2 HMI during the trials: (a) Standard soft reduction practice using SMART segments and (b) SRD practices with increased reduction of 200% using SRD segments

The concept of heavy reduction is quite new and not widely spread. Sumitomo Metals Industries and POSCO carried out the first investigations in this field around 2008. The former developed a technology to reduce the porosity in the slab centre, which is called ‘Porosity Control of Casting Slab’ (PCCS). The idea of PCCS is to perform heavy reduction of around 10 mm at the end of solidification with one roller pair.(15) POSCO developed a technology that is called PosHARP (POSCO Heavy strAnd Reduction) process. The basic idea behind it is to squeeze the solute-enriched liquid steel from the mushy zone towards the mold by applying a higher reduction rate (up to 10 mm per 1 m strand length) in the middle stage of solidification. The squeezed enriched liquid steel will be homogenized by using a strand EMS. Slabs cast with PosHARP technology show a negative segregation in the slab centre (which, says POSCO, is not detrimental for the rolled plate) and reduced centre porosity.(16) Test procedure and quality results All test results presented in the present work were accomplished at a casting thickness of 220 mm at Ternium Brazil.

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SRD Segments were installed at segment position 9 and 10, which represents the position of the first and second horizontal segment (Figs 10 and 11). (14) According to the test plan shown in Table 2, the trials were done when casting peritectic steel grades. The soft reduction amount of the strand with SRD segments was increased with every trial accomplished and reached as a maximum 200% of the standard value in trial 3.

In trials 2 and 3, a progressive soft reduction profile was applied on strand 1, where SRD segments were installed.

The soft reduction was carried out in two segments, where 12 of the total 14 rollers (2 segments with 7 rollers each) were applying the main portion of the total reduction in the mushy zone and a much smaller portion of the total reduction was applied in the already fully solidified strand.

Fig 12 shows typical screen shots of the gap profile shown in the level 2 online HMI during the trials.

At TERNIUM a macro-etch technique and rating on a Mannesmann scale of 1-5 is used to regularly monitor the internal integrity of slabs with respect to centre line segregation. Figs 13 – 15 show the macroetch results of the accomplished trials according to Table 2.

In trial 1, a standard soft reduction practice, which is used for production of peritectic steel grades, was applied on both strands. No significant difference in the level of centre line segregation can be seen, since in both cases the point of final solidification was positioned at the end of segment 10, which means that equal conditions were present on both strands (Fig 13). Therefore, results taken from samples of strand 2, where a standard soft reduction practice was applied, were taken as a reference.

Fig 14 shows a significant difference in the level of centre line segregation in the results of trial 2. It should be pointed out, that the point of final solidification was positioned in both cases in the middle of segment 10 (4th of 7 rollers).

The elevated centre line segregation was caused, therefore, by the fact that at least three rollers of segment 10 were doing soft reduction in the already solid part of the strand. This trial shows clearly that the big advantage of SRD technology is that centre line segregation does not depend upon the position of the point where final solidification ends since all rollers are individually positionable.

Fig 15 shows again a significant improvement in centre line segregation using SRD technology. The macro-etch results show the best results when a soft reduction of 175% of the standard value was applied.(14) Conclusions SRD technology from Primetals Technologies is improving the efficiency of dynamic soft reduction dramatically by overcoming the limitation of discretization of conventional SMART segments. The modernization of TERNIUM´s two-strand slab casters in Santa Cruz, Brazil, with the latest generation of process models and SRD segment technology resulted in a big step forward in improving centre line segregation. All taken samples with SRD segments showed a significantly better internal quality compared to conventional SMART segments. Furthermore, the capability of the SRD segment combined March 2022

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with the possibility to perform heavy reduction offers more opportunities to diminish centre line segregation as well as porosity in the slab centre. � References 1. Kajitani T, Drezet JM, Rappaz Mr, Numerical Simulation of Deformation-Induced Segregation in Continuous Casting of Steel. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A. 2001; 32:1479–1491.

2. Miyazawa K, Schwerdtfeger K. Macrosegregation in continuously cast steel slabs – preliminary theoretical investigation on the effect of steady state bulging. Arch.

Eisenhüttenwesen. 1981; 52:415 422.

3. Ayata K, Mori H, Taniguchi K, Matsuda H. Low Superheat Teeming with Electromagnetic Stirring.

ISIJ International. 1995; 35:680–685.

4. Chang-Hee Y, Young-Mok W. On-line internal quality prediction technology of slab for heavy plates. La Revue de Métallurgie. 2008; 105:375– 382.

5. Sun Q, Yu G, Zhu Z. Study on the Relationship between the Cooling Condition in Width and the Centerline Segregation of the Slab. St. Louis, USA: AISTech; 2009. 1099–1110.

6. Mörwald K, Thalhammer M, Federspiel C, Gould L. Improvements in HIC Resistance with ASTC. Birmingham, UK: ECCC; 1994.

7. Chen X, Abraham S, Franco G, Asante J, D´Souza C, Dunnet K. Improving Centerline Segregation Control on X70 Products. Pittsburgh, USA: AISTech; 2010. 175–180.

8. Cappel J, Flender R, Höffken R, Kemper G, Wünnenberg K. Centre Segregation, Soft Reduction and Oxide Cleanness for Large Diameter Line Pipe with Highest Demands on HIC. Steel research Int. 2006; 76:588–594.

9. Ilie S, Fuchs R, Etzelsdorfer K, Chimani C, Mörwald K. Slab Quality improvement by Soft Reduction Technology. Riccione, Italy: ECCC; 2008.

10. Ramstorfer F, Dittenberger K, Hauser K, Hahn S. Dynacs3D - The new dimension in secondary cooling for slab casters. Düsseldorf, Germany: ECCC; 2011.

11. Braß HG, Krüger F, Schmidt N, Linneweber C, Oberaigner W, Bogner J, Leitner R. Improvement of slab quality at THYSSENKRUPP Steel Europe through Dynacs3D strand cooling model. Graz, Aus-tria: ECCC; 2014.

12. Hahn S, Schaden T. DynaPhase: Online calculation of thermodynamic properties during continuous casting. Graz, Austria: ECCC; 2014.

13. Leitner R, Fuchshuber D, Brugger C, Pennerstorfer P. The Digital Twin in Continuous Casting — A New Dimension in Automation Technology. Pittsburgh, USA: AISTech; 2019.

2524–2529.

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Fig 13. Macro etches of trial 1. Application of standard soft reduction practice using conventional SMART segments (a) and SRD segments (b)

Fig 14. Macro etches of trial 2. Application of standard soft reduction practice using conventional SMART segments (a) and increased soft reduction (125%) using SRD segments (b)

Fig 15. Macro etches of trial 3. Application of standard soft reduction practice using conventional SMART segments (a), increased soft reduction (175%) using SRD segments (b) and increased soft reduction (200%) using SRD segments (c)

14. Ramstorfer F, Trindade dos Santos G, Cunha Aranda V, Lourenco F, Martins Demuner L, Burzic D, Pennerstorfer P. A major step forward in improving internal slab quality – Development and first implementation of the Single Roll DynaGap (SRD) Segment at TERNIUM. Philadelphia, USA: AISTech; 2018. 1571-1582.

15. Hiraki S, Yamanaka A, Yoshihisa S, Satou Y, Kumakura S. Development of New Continuous Casting Technology (PCCS) for Very Thick Plate.

Materia Japan. 2009; 48:20-22.

16. Yim CH, Seo JD. Advanced Steelmaking Technologies for CO2 Emission Reduction and Slab Quality Improvement. Dresden, Germany: ICS, 2012.

WEBINAR AND DEMONSTRATION An on-demand-webinar about SRD technology including an expert talk with TERNIUM and a demonstration of DynaGap Soft Reduction 3D is available under https:// tinyurl.com/2p9byxtv

Fig 16. Link to on-demand-webinar about SRD technology

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: FALKONRY

AI in Steelmaking The global steel industry is going through a transformation in the areas of digitalization and sustainability. Nikunj Mehta* says it is the most exciting time for the industry to turn to smart manufacturing, and Falkonry is ready to bring the required agility and scale to it.

1.

How are things going at FALKONRY? Is the steel industry keeping you busy?

Yes, steel is our primary focus area and we’ve been working with leading steelmakers for four years now. During this time we’ve had the opportunity to not only deploy our AI-based solutions for dozens of high-value use cases, but also scale them across multiple lines. We see even more demand for advanced analytics, which is really exciting for the industry and us.

2.

What is your view on the current state of the global steel industry?

The renewal of interest in US steel manufacturing and the demand/supply changes brought about by the pandemic have created a perfect opportunity for manufacturers to invest in their own future.

While bringing new capacity online will always continue to be challenging due to the capital availability, we are seeing a lot of global interest in digital methods of creating virtual capacity by eliminating unscheduled downtime, reducing scheduled downtime, improving quality, and increasing yield.

3.

In which sector of the steel industry does FALKONRY mostly conduct its business?

Our time series AI has its application starting from the melt shop all the way downstream to galvanizing. Falkonry has scaled deployments of this AI in continuous operations such as casting, rolling, forming and finishing mills that capture enormous amounts of time series data from existing SCADA systems. We are also working in downstream discrete processes on use cases such as weld-quality classification and stripbreakage monitoring.

4.

Where in the world are you busiest at present?

North and Latin America keep us busy. But we are also getting a lot of interest from the European and Japanese markets and we are excited to build partnerships in new geographies.

5.

What are your views on Industry 4.0 in steelmaking and how is FALKONRY contributing to it?

Modern steelmaking equipment and processes are highly automated and that has accelerated the achievement of Industry 4.0 milestones using AI software. Using a highly automated AI engine, Falkonry provides end-users (such as reliability engineers and production managers) with instant insights to focus their attention on specific behaviours arising in the production data, resulting in proactive action for maintenance and performance management. For instance, the evolution of a continuous caster mold breakout is very dynamic and depends on temperatures, casting speed, motor currents, etc. One can’t ascertain much about the system behaviour (or precisely

when a mold breakout would happen) by manually looking at these signals. Falkonry’s scalable AI reveals patterns and behaviour that needs human attention by reviewing terabytes of such operational data in realtime. In this way, the decisions made by ops personnel are based on facts, enabling new levels of operational excellence for the steel plant.

6.

How quickly has the steel industry responded to digital transformation in terms of making the production process more efficient and are they succeeding or fighting a losing battle?

The steel industry has quickly built upon the success of their peers to leverage their own existing investments in instrumentation and plant network systems. While some companies are developing vendor-neutral IT initiatives, some are developing scalable analytics approaches. One current challenge faced by steel companies is that they are seeking a turnkey solution requiring a complete hardware-software-services package − the costs of which can exceed its economic value.

7.

What should the steel producer do in such a situation?

In order to succeed with AI-based transformation, we find that organizations develop significant competencies while applying AI to an entire line that produces better economic value and are then able to replicate that competency across the enterprise. One of our customers did an interesting analysis on this to reveal that if they were to address one use case at a time, it would take them 54 years to deploy across their enterprise. However, line-scale deployment can be completed in just months while achieving the same level of coverage.

* CEO, Falkonry.

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: FALKONRY

8.

What does the future of the workforce look like with the adoption of digital technologies such as AI? The steel industry is encountering a shrinking workforce and there is a lot of knowledge walking out of the plant doors. We need a two-pronged approach to counter this: first, capture the tacit knowledge, and second, train the workforce with digital technologies. AI and cloud compute technologies help in capturing and standardizing large check chunks of tacit operational knowledge. This is extremely important to prioritize now as we seek to become a data-driven industry that is welcoming of the next generation of talent.

featured on the prestigious Forbes AI 50 list. While we continue to invest in innovation, we also seek to partner with other steel organizations to better serve the industry through standardization and better integration.

12. Where do you see most innovation in terms of production technologies – primary, secondary or more downstream?

The entire value chain is being overhauled with digital technologies – from steelmaking to the supply chain and scrap management – in order to have an efficient circular economy. Primary steelmaking is

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14. What exhibitions and conferences will FALKONRY be attending over the next six months?

We are thrilled that in-person conferences are back and we have a few noteworthy events lined up. We will be presenting at AIST Digital Transformation Forum Indianapolis in March and AISTech Annual Conference in Pittsburgh later in May. We will also be present at the Future Steel Forum, Prague in June [Grandior Hotel, 8-9 June 2022].

15. What keeps you awake at night?

As digitalization advances in any steel plant, there is a pressing need to quickly translate

9.

In your dealings with steel producers, are you finding that they are looking to companies like FALKONRY to offer them solutions in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability?

Once the low-hanging fruit has been fully exhausted, by using operational data, AI can detect smaller and intermittent efficiency issues in real-time. Corrective actions based on such insights unleash a new set of reduction opportunities to make the entire manufacturing carbon lean.

10. Where does FALKONRY lead the field in terms of steel production technology?

A modern steel plant is a highly sophisticated network of systems with each component constantly measured and monitored. One of our customers is producing over 15 trillion data points per year per plant. That is an immense amount of data to make sense of! Falkonry provides production and reliability engineers with intelligent plant visibility to highlight areas that need attention. The insights combined with explanations develops user trust and enables smarter decisions, resulting in improved manufacturing KPIs. 11. How do you view FALKONRY’s development over the short-tomedium term in relation to the global steel industry?

Falkonry will continue in its mission to make the physical world’s information accessible and usable through cutting-edge AI and software. We have been awarded over a dozen patents in the field of autonomous machine learning, and last year were www.steeltimesint.com

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garnering the most value-driven innovation in order to remain competitive. Companies have realized the potential of digital technologies in increasing production efficiency and decreasing rejects and scrap.

13. How optimistic are you for the global steel industry going forward and what challenges face global producers in the short-to-medium term?

The steel industry is going full throttle in the areas of digitalization and sustainability.

Like many large industrial corporations are concluding, it makes more sense to partner than to develop digital technologies in-house. A combination of in-house efforts around compliance and policies combined with partners for AI and usability can establish the foundation for speed and scale.

tons of data into information and facts. This is what keeps everyone at Falkonry awake – building a system that breaks down the complexities of the physical system for the end user, yet equips them with the right information at the right time and can be trusted.

16. If you possessed a superpower, how would you use it to improve the global steel industry?

If I possessed a superpower I’d be “Zero Man”. Sounds odd right? Let me explain – the steel industry needs to achieve Goal Zero: Zero defects, Zero (net) emissions, Zero surprises! If we go by Clarke’s Third Law – i.e. any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic – then very soon AI software will be that superpower. �

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HISTORY

The Pioneering Life of Peter Kirk –

A book review – Part 1: The beginning Reviewed by Tim Smith* “MR. Kirk had long heard of America and its wonderful opportunities. He longed to see the states, and finally induced the chief engineer of his company, John G. Kellett, of his Moss Bay works, to accompany him on a trip through the states.” (Seattle PostIntelligencer, 1916) So starts the 382-page book chronicling the life of Peter Kirk, born in the village of Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire, England.

The book follows the career, and family life, of this entrepreneur inventor, born into a family of blacksmiths in 1840. Kirk was destined to followed the family tradition, first working with his brothers in the family forge established by his grandfather, Henry Kirk, in Chapel-en-le-Frith, and, in 1860, moving with them to Workington,

Cumbria, on England’s NW coast, to work with them as a puddler and part-owner of Kirk Brothers & Co. Overshadowed by his brothers, at the age of 23 he set up his own company, Kirk & Dixon, registered as ‘iron merchants’. In 1869, partnered by his brother-in-law, Charles Valentine, he established the ‘Workington Iron Co’, at Mossbay on the southern edge of Workington, where they erected four blast furnaces. Despite the success of this company, not everything went to plan.

Around 1875, a boiler explosion in one of the air blast engine houses rained shrapnel onto the works, the engine house tank ending up in the sea. Amazingly, no one was hurt, but it cost the company £1,000 in damages (~£63k today) but insurance

only covered £100. In April that year, a fire destroyed the pattern shop, again delaying deliveries.

In 1877, the company installed Bessemer converters to refine iron from the blast furnaces and the name changed to the Workington Hematite Iron & Steel Company and subsequently to the Workington Iron Company. This specialised in the manufacture of steel rails for rail track, a product previously dominated by wrought iron. Output first grew to 70kt/yr and then 100kt/yr.

Kirk had patented an innovative way of rolling rail, first by developing the three-high stand, which he paired with a following two-high stand driven by friction as the bar, still passing through the 3-high

Bessemer steel rail made by the Moss Bay Steel Co, England 1887 (Picture curtesy of author)

Part 2 of this article will account the success, or otherwise, of Kirk’s US adventure which ultimately established the now thriving city of Kirkland on the shores of Lake Washington.

‘The Pioneering Life of Peter Kirk – From Derbyshire to the Pacific Northwest’ By Saundra Middleton, 382 pages, Index, 195 source references, Notes and illustrations Pub ‘Genetically Inclined’, Anchorage, Alaska 2021 ISBN 978-1-09837-091-6 (paperback US$19.95) ISBN 978-1-09837-092-3 (eBook US$ 4.99)

*Consulting editor, Steel Times International and a member of the Historical Metallurgy Society March 2022

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HISTORY 61

stand, entered the following two-high stand. Thus only one motor was needed and heavy reduction of the ingot achieved.

In all, Kirk registered 16 patents in the UK, many related to rolling rail and one to improving the puddling furnace, a process Kirk had first-hand experience of.

A depression in demand lasting several years commenced in 1883, resulting from over-production of iron in the area. Orders slumped and coal prices doubled forcing the works to be idled, but Kirk invented new products such as a steel sleeper with an integrated chair to hold the rail, a product particularly suitable for India, Africa and Australia where timber sleepers were attacked by termites.

Having set-up an export office in New York some years earlier, Kirk travelled to the USA in 1886 at the age of 46 with the intention of expanding his business in the USA by establishing rail manufacture on that continent. Demand for rail was booming as US railroad companies pushed further west, laying as much as 7,000 miles of track a year. Kirk’s mill would be in direct competition with the established eastern

state iron and steel cartels dominated by such characters as Andrew Carnegie whose Edgar Thomson Works in Pittsburgh was a major supplier of rail track.

Kirk was accompanied by a young mechanical engineer, John George Kellett, from the Moss Bay works. Kirk’s NY office had recently received an enquiry for the purchase of rail from the recently established Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad (SLS&E). The owner had also supplied an analysis of iron ore from a mine in the Snoqualmie Mountains, 50 miles east of Seattle, owned by Arthur Denny.

The quality intrigued Kirk who arranged to meet with the SLS&E owner, Daniel Gilman, in Seattle at a future date. Meanwhile, Kirk continued with his original plans to visit various US ore fields and steel mills, which, by this date, were largely using acid Bessemer Converters to make steel for rail track. Despite being offered inducements to set up a works in the East, Kirk travelled overland to Seattle, then a small town of some 15,000 people.

He decided to build his US plant in Seattle, Washington State, rather than

compete with established producers in the East. Others had failed to establish profitable iron works in this Pacific NW, but Kirk was determined and, on reaching Seattle, trekked the region looking for good sources of ore, coking coal and limestone. He found a vast deposit of ore in the Cle-Elum valley, coal at Franklin and limestone on the San Juan islands of Lake Washington.

The coal was high in ash but low in sulphur, and the former could be largely removed by washing. He also secured further orders for rail track from more railway companies.

Only US citizens were permitted to purchase land so he set up a partnership with a local investor, Leigh Hunt, who secured land on his behalf. To aid further purchases of land to secure the necessary raw materials, Kirk filed his intention to become a citizen of the United States on 18 May 1887 and his family in Workington joined him in July that year. For unknown reasons, Kirk delayed his citizenship application and did not become a US citizen until November 1899. �

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